House of Twilight
by Akkiko
Summary: AU. 'I don't know how it happened, seriously. I only know my name is Duo Maxwell, and that I'm stuck in a place called Twilight, to be honest, I don't think these guys are human, and that something even worse out there wants to kill me.' Yaoi Duox? OCxOC
1. Lazarus

Author's notes: A complete AU, I only know so far of one character from the series who will be in here, so why not make it an original?

Well mainly because I seem to do so much better at fanfiction . . . oh well.

Warnings: Kinky is high here, as it lime, and some obvious implication of sex. Yaoi is a high major here, angst, and a lot of self-pity.

Pairings: 2x? and OCxOC

_**Prologue**_

Pain… body numbing, mind shattering, pain. A strangled croak of protest arose from his throat to attempt to take form from his lips, and failed miserably. Vainly the figure tried to lift his arm, and succeeded in raising it up a measly few inches, before it fell to the Earth again, not without, it should be said, excruciating pain. How was it even possible to be _alive_ under such conditions?

It was raining, the teenager, almost adult, noted surly. His chestnut hair pooled around his head, and fanned around his shoulders, his eyes were narrowed and squinted against the raindrops as he vaguely tried to make some sense of where he was. **Who** he was.

'Something ridiculous…' His mind contemplated in its dysfunctional state. '…but meaningful, something involving the word two, but starts with a D.' He could remember those small facts?

That was a good sign, maybe all hope wasn't totally lost after all.

'Heero would say I never had any hope to begin with… hmm, I wonder who Heero is.' The boy's mind thought vaguely, he felt oddly cynical as his gaze traveled from the corner of his eyes, to rove over the white surface and to his other corner. As far as he could gather from his surroundings, it was daylight, very near dusk and the sky was darkened with angry storm-clouds. Concrete walls surrounded him on all but one of his four sides, the empty side lay facing the end of his soles, so try as he might he could not lift his head to glance over those pointed peaks called feet.

'Okay, gather your thoughts, Mr. Name-means-two-but-starts-with-D.' His mind produced this thought with an abnormal amount of sarcasm, amazing how badly he wanted to smack himself, and in his current condition of mental stability, it would have been a safe bet to say he would have done so too, if he could move without sending his body into spasms of agony.

'How ironic, that which entraps me in a prison of sensory receptors blockage, is also a protector of what vague and small shred of sanity I may possess. Whoa, I'm analytical, odd, I'm not normally analytical… at least I don't think I am.' With a soft flutter of his lips in what could have been a sigh under normal circumstances, he tried to gather details.

'Okay, observation number one. I'm not dead.'

…

'Obviously. I must have been mentally retarded before this, or maybe I still am. Okay, I'm not dead, that's a start.' And oddly enough, though it was a dim-witted realization, it was an important one.

'Why?' He wondered. 'Why is it important?' Then his eyes widened slightly, but his mind took the information calmly. Why was it important? His consciousness asked. And his mind readily supplied; 'Because I am supposed to be dead.' His mind quickly fell into a controversial state, his confused consciousness would ask a question, his mind would speedily reply, it seemed that it was simply a puzzle, ask the right question and a piece is revealed, ask a wrong question and the pieces to be revealed would expand, thus creating more questions to be asked, and more to reveal.

'Why am I supposed to be dead?' His thoughts asked.

'Obviously I was supposed to die, or someone tried to kill me.' His mind replied.

'How do I know this?' His thoughts demanded.

'Because Heero is dead.' Instantly a pain filled his chest, his heart constricted with some indescribable forces of loss and hurt, and all for a man whom he couldn't even remember.

'Always giving me pain, even after you're dead Hee-chan.' The youth thought dimly with annoyance as tears formed at the corners of his eyes, angrily he blinked them away and tried his hand once more at moving. 'Got to stop goofing around, I have to find help. Serious, help.' As his raised his fingertips, ignoring the small, but soon to turn to gigantic spasms of pain, he wondered why he didn't call to a god, or something to assist him.

'The only God I believe in, is probably doing this to me.' His subconscious vaguely reminded him and he frowned. 'Learn something new about myself every fucking minute.' He thought with a rather large scowl. 'So, what shall I call myself? I don't like referring to the person known as 'me' as 'hey Mr. Freaky-pessimistic-amnesiac!' He thought as he slowly used his arm as a lever to straighten himself and sit up, it was a miracle he didn't scream in utter agony. Who ever had done this to him, had quite obviously done a real number on his body.

'… Lazarus.' The name popped into his head, for some unknown reason. The teen blinked a few minutes, before attempting a shrug, when his callous gesture sent him into reels of pain and left him gasping for breath, he settled for a mental shrug and reminded himself venomously to watch his future actions.

'Lazarus, a cute story. Jesus Christ brings a man back to life named Lazarus, now how the hell do I know about the bible? What am I? A priest?' He thought wildly as his eyes shifted to his attire.

A black shirt with buttons down a middle row and white sleeve cuffs adorned his upper torso, but funnily enough it was ratty, teared and beyond salvageable. He noted the long light brown strands of blood crusted hair that flickered over his shoulder and narrowed his eyes with annoyance.

Evidentially he was exceptionally fond of his hair.

'Heero would say I was obsessed with it.' Again he frowned, that name was popping up everywhere… Returning to his self observations, he noted black leather pants with select cuts in the fabric, the largest and most painful seeming one appeared to be on his right leg, around his inner thigh, it had sliced clear through the leather and left a deep gouge that had ceased bleeding, which worried him, the wound had scabbed over at least 2 days ago, just how long had he been out for? When he had managed to sit himself in a proper position, or what he deemed a proper position, he took a quick scan around, and discovered the only exit from this alley led to a road, but more importantly was that across that road lay a house.

The property was surrounded by pristine metal, well polished and sharpened fences with spikes decorating the top. Past the fence was a huge thicket of rose bushes that surrounded the sidewalk which led to the front door of a dark and ominous, yet inviting and appealing mansion. Vaguely he noticed a soft waft of a peculiar scent reaching his nose, and he could feel it originated from that dark mansion, and so, with a great deal of cursing and colorful language, he rose to his feet, and as one arm gripped the other, and he stumbled in his footsteps, he finally struck out, in search for some help, and more importantly, some answers.

Disclaimer: I own only the plot, it remains to be seen if I own the protagonist. ;)


	2. Jinx

_**Chapter 1**_

Crossing the street was paltry in terms of traffic, this entire street seemed to be deserted. It had to be something of a main road, the pavement was so expertly cared for, and thick sidewalks bordered each side.

But what disturbed him the most, was the alleyway he had come from, either it had been some sort of hallucination, dreamed up by his undoubtedly damaged sanity, or it had vanished. After forcing himself to take the necessary measured steps to get him across the street, the minute he had glanced back, he had discovered nothing but wall.

Albeit it was the same material of the walls that had surrounded him, but nonetheless, it was no longer there. The small alcove, the tiny sanctuary he had inhabited for such a short- or long- time was now gone.

Hallucination? Perhaps.

Insanity? A high fucking probability.

'Life just keeps getting better.' He thought with a surly growl, and had he not been in such a fragile condition, he would have probably crossed the street again just to assure himself that he wasn't delusional, but as it was, he was in a fragile state, and he needed help. And it just so happened that creepy mansion number one was his only option for assistance, but how to get it? Scaling the fence was out of the question, the wall would be difficult to climb, even if he _had_ been at his full operating capacity, however as he stood, with each passing minute, it grew steadily more difficult to stand straight and not sway, to breath normally instead of gasp for breath, no, he would have to find a more logical way.

'Maybe I have something on me that will help.' His hands calmly roved his body, his hair yielded nothing but a few odd wires and some small square objects, barely as big a tack, vaguely his mind registered that this was some incredible technology, but that was useless.

'Great, I found some awesome technology, which is about as useful as shit since I don't know what it does.' Knowing he may need them later, he quickly replaced these items into the folds of his hair, ignoring the question as to how they did not fall out. His pockets yielded little, no wallet for identification, no slips of paper, not even a single receipt to inform him a general idea as to where he was. Just a set of keys, oddly shaped ones at that, and a lighter.

'I smoke?' His mind wondered vaguely as he gazed down at the stainless steal Zippo lighter.

'No, you're just a pyromaniac.' His mind replied calmly and he sighed again. It this kept up, he was going to start having intriguing conversations with himself. Dimly he ran a hand over his back pockets, and it was only when his fingertips gently brushed a large shaft of metal did he freeze.

Calm and steady hands drew the gun from his back waistband, his mind was already whirling with the possibilities of why he possessed a gun.

'In my back-pocket no less, damn, I could lose a piece of my ass with this thing!' He thought pessimistically as his hands roved over the silencer, it was his type of gun, he realized vaguely. Silent, and deadly, what he had always envisioned himself as. No, he wasn't silent, he was deadly no doubt, but if he lost his cool he was a maniac.

It was Heero who was the silent one. Silent, cold, ruthless, and **more** than deadly.

Was he jealous? Shaking the thought from his mind he noticed with unease how familiar it felt in his hand, his fingers traveled the length of the gun, his eyes drinking in every grove, every scratch, every imperfection and every angle of this beauty. His fingers calmly flicked the safety off and he returned to more important matters.

Nothing remained to be examined, the keys returned to his pocket, as did the several throwing knives he had located in his boots, evidentially he must have been an army soldier, or an assassin perhaps. Maybe a mission had gone wrong? Maybe that was why his memory was wiped.

And Heero was dead.

His lips curved into a dead-pan frown as his eyes narrowed. Again with Heero! Who the hell was Heero!

'Forget Heero for now, I need to find help, and I need to get out of the open, I don't like the idea of a police car driving by, and me with a firearm in my hand.' Clutching the weapon close to his chest, his mind pondered possible solutions, he then noticed something on the stone pillar that connected the fence blocking the drive-way to the rest of the cage. There was no speaker, just a tiny relief located within the surface. An anthropomorphic sun chased an anthropomorphic moon.

'Helios and Selene.' His mind registered vaguely and he frowned. Where was he getting all this crap from? Ignoring that for the moment he gently fingered the moon, and frowned, could it move? He gently tried to slide the moon left, gentle didn't cut it. So pressing harder, he finally pushed the moon deep and slid, automatic systems took over from there. It slid counterclockwise on a thin circular track, swiveling up to cover the sun where it settled neatly into place.

'An eclipse, symbolic.' He noted vaguely as the gate suddenly shifted. That was when there was music.

Yes, music, ten soft notes. Ten for a reason presumably but they were odd. All different, all freakishly inhumane.

A soft tinkling sound, he saw forests by the thousands, beautiful, lush, green forests whose canopies were so thick light could barely penetrate. Lost.

A loud sound, clear. Like an organ almost. He saw a church, brilliant with lighting, the windows were sparkled colored panes, like any church should be. Hope.

A howl, wolflike and alone. Wrong, it should have been with a pack, he saw moonlight, a scattering of lights below that could only be a village, and mountains, surrounded by fields of grass, covered in dew. Lonely.

A crystalline sound, like two crystals clashing against each other, soft and full of sorrow. He saw jagged peaks, cliffs that could crumble and were precarious, dark clouds swirling all around. Forsaken.

A bell. Clear, and calling. A palace, bathed in white ivory, it was peaceful and happy. Flowers surrounded it, by the barrelful. Happiness.

A harp string. Melodious and soothing, he saw rippling silk cloths, white and sheen. Birds flew through a grassy field, mountains lining the horizon. Freedom.

A strike of piano keys, purposeful and clear. It must have been a temple, altars were resurrected to some deity, light filtered through windows and mantras were chanted. Courage.

A thunder crack, he saw fields of fire, snake-like tendrils reached for dark skies and danced with a mad fervor. Pain.

A roar, one that would do a lion proud. he saw a valley of mountainous peaks, flowing rivers and lush grass fields. But the mountains ruled this land. Isolation.

And the final note, a scream. This shocked the youth out of his stupor. A beautiful, yet agonizing and terrible scream. Full of rage and sorrow, he saw dark pits, pools of black liquid and barren lands with nothing but jagged mounds of rock smothered in crimson blood. Despair.

And then the gate opened. The teen gasped for breath, what the hell had just happened to him?

The sounds had revealed images, and despite their obvious differences, the sounds has clashed, mixed, and harmonized. Beautiful.

And terrifying.

It took him a few vague moments to realize the gates had swung open while the music had played and he gripped his gun even more tightly. He surpressed the ridiculous urge to call out the ever so cliché question; Who's there?

It was an absurd notion, obviously there was no one there to answer.

'Nobody here but us paranoid amnesiacs.' He thought cynically as he inched forward, his gaze scrutinizing and sharp as he glanced all around him, his gun at the ready, his index finger curled protectively over the trigger. It was a fairly non-eventful walk to the front door, save for the fact that with each step he took closer to the house, the pain dwindled away, just a bit more. Was walking to the house a cure in itself? Did he actually have to go in to cure himself? And why did this closing of space make his pain go away anyway? When he reached the porch step, he allowed himself to relax a bit as he gazed at the doors, which he noticed was littered with intricate carvings. The oaken double doors were quite a spectacle, such lifelike depictions of mythical creatures were engraved onto the surfaces and for a moment he had to pause because he had almost thought the door was crawling with life forms. His insanity was reaching new levels it seemed. He paused for a moment, observing the door and wondering if there was another anthropomorphic moon for him to push, his search of the door proved fruitless, and he was just about to settle for a good old fashioned knocking on the door method, when said doors opened.

It was such a surprise that he stood there stunned, his gun held limply in his hand, his finger unready to curl around the trigger. But the spectator was not too surprised. Yes, her eyes had widened, and her body had stiffened in shock, but she wasn't wholly surprised to find a shaggy, very raggedy man holding a gun at her door.

Welcome to the world of the fucked up.

Her hair had been pulled back into a half-ponytail, her eyes were round and a delicate green, they were warm and inviting. She was dressed in what could have been a kimono, which was an oddity in itself, who wore kimonos in America for no damn reason?

'Whoa… when did I figure out I was in America?' His mind suddenly realized. And his eyes glazed over with mild confusion, the woman lost her expression of confusion and it was replaced with a gentle smile, one of understanding, and pity. He hated that, he absolutely _hated_ pity.

"Welcome, how may I service you?" She asked politely.

Whoa, that had come out of the blue.

"W-what-?" His throat choked on the word, and he vaguely came to a conclusion it may have been smart of him to try and talk before this encounter, but then again he didn't favor talking to himself, he wasn't _that_ far gone mentally, thank you very much. The woman asked no more questions, but gently took his arm, the arm that did not hold his silencer he noticed, and tugged him into the warm house. Closing the door behind them the man found himself in a foyer that looked like Egypt had met Japan and after deciding to mix, had turned goth.

Symbols littered the walls, paintings of scenic far off places were scattered with no true purpose, and ornamental crosses, and other religious objects were squandered over the wooden walls. Pillars of strong maple wood stood on either side of the doors and she immediately took his jacket and hung it up on one of the hooks, he noticed a few other coats as well, but their styles were so badly mismatched, and some were little more then tatters, what the hell was this place?

"My name is Jinx, and I am the owner of this establishment, this way please." She said calmly and guided him to their right, the doorway was large and rounded, and was covered with silken cloth that was barely translucent, the violet sheen of the fabric made it impossible to see what was beyond.

'Jinx, what kind of name is Jinx? And should I try talking again? Is that an **ankh** on that wall! Where the hell am I?' The fabric parted through a near invisible slit in the middle to reveal what could have been the living room. There were comfortable looking couches that littered the bases of all the walls, save for a window that left a pleasing view of the front-yard, underneath the window was a waist high bench that could have been made for sitting on, but instead blankets covered it with a pillow placed on the end, a bed obviously. He found it discomforting that the only exit from this room was the door they had come through, the couches even curved the corners and ended at the door they had come through. A television, a large one, was located in one corner that hadn't been conquered with chairs, and the floor was littered with cushions, a small table was located to the side of the television, and he noticed small packets of incense and a incense holder, a candle was aligned to that.

But the room wasn't empty. Far from it, it was packed. And the minute they entered, all gazes turned to him and he flinched. He was used to being stared at, he knew that much, but these eyes were different, they looked seemingly as normal as the next, but there was something… inhuman about their gaze.

"Well now, who is this little tattered bird?" A young male asked as he stood up from the couch nearest Jinx and himself. His brown hair had been spiked in the front, but let to run wild in the back, piercing blue eyes were ice cold, but despite that his personality was warm and welcoming. He wore a pair of simple faded blue jeans, the knees had been scrapped, and a loose white shirt with multiple necklaces and bracelets littering his body. Something that hinted at a tattoo disappeared beneath the sleeve of his shirt as he observed the unknown youth.

"My name is Mercutio, a pleasure to meet you…?" He trailed off, waiting for a name, his gaze questing.

When he received no answer, he sighed with understanding.

"Ah, you're one of _those_ people, alright then, I'll get out of your way, Jinx would you like me to fetch Millie for you?" He asked of her. Jinx nodded.

"Please, if you could Merc." Merc smiled and headed out of the room, waving over his shoulder.

"I live to serve." He said happily as he left through the silken covering. But before anyone could make a move, he poked his head back in and winked.

"Oh, and you might want to put away your firearm there Mr. No-name." He teased before slipping back out. The boy blushed and quickly flicked the safety on before pocketing it in his waistband.

"Come sit here." Jinx said undeterred, as if she hadn't noticed the gun, and pulled him over to a couch and setting him down, the boy tried to thank her, when he found a crystal glass of water under his nose, he blinked and turned to look at the person who offered it. A closed expression met his inquisitive one, his eyes were green, but stoically so. Platinum blond hair gave the person an almost ethereal appearance, and his hair had been cut efficiently so at shoulder length in a straight line. A short cut, and prim suit of a black shirt, black dress pants and a high collar was this person's choice of attire.

Nodding his thanks, the boy took the glass and drank it greedily, he hadn't known how thirsty he was.

"Thanks." He managed out this time, much better than the last. The boy simply nodded to him and walked away.

"That was Kaz, he doesn't like to talk much, but he is one of the nicest people you will ever meet." Jinx told him with a small smile. "Don't worry, we'll help you soon, we just have to wait for my friend." She said calmly.

"Well if you're gonna do a memory recall trance, I'm out of here. The last time you did one I got so many flashbacks, I was knocked out!" A female called out arrogantly, she sat on a cushion, one leg crossed over the other, a flat chest almost marked her as a boy, and her figure was hidden under a large sweatshirt, loose and baggy jeans were her trademark, and a baseball cap hid her copper brown hair which had been cut to ear length, evidently this was the tom-boy of the group.

"Oh come on Ehry, you know you always stay for the fun." Another female voice said quietly, a tinkle of amusement hidden within its depths. This came from a seductive looking woman. Her golden brown hair fell in waves of curls past her shoulders and tumbled down her back. Warm brown eyes were inviting to the boy as she smiled a very comforting smile. Full lips were set into a flawless face complete with porcelain skin, she was tall and slim, her curves showing through her light blue spaghetti strap and tight black capris. Angelic would have been a word to describe her beauty.

"That is Monique, the one with the wavy blond hair, and Ehry is the one with the baseball cap." Jinx clarified for him as she held his hand. He found the gesture comforting, and knew there was no lust behind her intentions, he felt safe with her, for some unknown reason. "I'm afraid Lilo, Ren and Kale are not here for you to meet, you'll have to wait. They're out on errands but should return shortly I believe… and Akito… well, I don't think you'd like Akito." Jinx said rather absently as she smiled at him.

"**Nobody** likes Akito, the guy is a selfish son of a bitch." A voice called brazenly back as Mercutio reentered, with a redhead behind him. She was short but thin, tiny in her own right. Red hair, as fine as silk tumbled in a shimmering curtain over her shoulders. A thin waist was covered by a dark blue skirt, but her midriff was left bare and her top was covered with what must have been a swim-suit top. Around her neck were two necklaces, both held crosses. Her green eyes were warm and welcoming.

"I see, this is him?" She asked carefully, her gaze flowing over him smoothly, drinking in every feature.

"Yes. Oh, I forgot, is there anything you would like us to call you?" Jinx asked turning to him. He paused for a moment, before he remember something that had popped up in his thoughts in the alleyway.

"Lazarus." He said shortly, still confused as to what was happening around him.

"Lazarus, what an intriguing name." Monique said softly, in her enchanting voice. "It tells the story of a young man who was killed, but Jesus Christ took pity on his soul, and brought him back to life. So the Bible says." She said softly. Then her eyes narrowed. "But what it does not say, is that when Lazarus was brought back to life, the God of Death, who despised having a soul taken from his realms, put a curse on Lazarus, so that when he came back, he would always carry the realm of the dead in his heart. Lazarus gained the ability to control the dead through this curse, and became known as a scourge of heaven and Earth, a sinner against the God he loved so, he became the first Necromancer." She whispered softly between clenched teeth. Laz blinked at her and felt a shiver run down his back. Merc had a similar response.

"Jeez, thanks for that image Monique, God you're being a more creepy bitch then usual today!" He said dimly, but there was no hostility in his voice. Monique simply gave him an entrancing smile and closed her eyes.

"The truth of God, is a much more scarier truth than anyone wishes to know." She said softly and smiled.

"Well, anyway… Lazarus, this is Millinear, she is an exorcist." Jinx explained to him and he blinked.

"What, am I possessed?" He demanded vaguely, feeling more cynical then usual. Millie smiled at him, a mysterious smile.

"Oh no, if you were then none of us would have gone near you, we're not too friendly with possessed people. Nor are they with us." She said calmly, her answer a maze of cryptic codes. "You simply need a recall trance, I am here to provide the barriers." She said calmly, and despite her explanations, Laz didn't get a word of what she said.

"You… do want your memory back don't you?" Jinx asked softly. Laz blinked at her, and pondered this thought for a moment, before a quick nod.

"Are there any strings?" He asked quickly however. Jinx shook her head.

"None but for three rules." She said calmly and hesitated, seeing if he would back out.

"Tell me." Laz said bluntly and Merc whistled as he leaned against the wall, hands folded behind his head.

"You're rather brave." He commented with a sly grin. Jinx ignored him and nodded, her face slipped from calm and composed, to stern and sincere. Her eyes bored into his, as if to drill these rules into his head.

"While you reside in this building, you can not go into any foreign room unless one of us says you may, or you feel the need to save a life depends on you being able to enter the room. Two, what is revealed in a location, must **stay** in that location at **_all_** costs. For example, what is said in this room must not leave this room, it can not be repeated anywhere else, not even in the rest of the house. Understand?"

Giving her a quick nod, she finally nodded and recited the last rule.

"Finally, when you leave this place, you must never, ever, look back. Never!" She repeated, it seemed this was the most crucial of points, and feeling that none of these were too drastic, he nodded his agreement. Silence followed this, and Merc coughed.

"You gotta swear out loud man." He explained calmly and Laz blushed.

"Oh, sorry. Alright, I swear I will not go into any room unless allowed by one of you or unless I deem it necessary to save a life, I will not reveal what is said in one room, in another, and when I leave this place, I will never, look back." He recited dutifully, and Jinx nodded at him, the smile had returned.

"Alright, allow us to begin."

"First off though," Millie interrupted. "are you all staying?" She asked mildly of the room, when she got four consecutive nods, from Monique, Ehry, Kaz, and Mercutio, she drew out a small pouch of white sand from her pocket and nodded.

"Then we shall begin."

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing, I DO own Akito, Ren, Lilo, Jinx, Monique, Ehry, Kaz, Kale, Millie and Mercutio, as well as the plot.


	3. Akito

_**Chapter 2**_

Laz didn't know what to make of it quite honestly. They had spread a blanket on the floor, and placed two of the most cushiest pillows under his head that they could find, his gun lay to the side of his head for comfort. One hand was held in the lap of Millinear, Millie, while his other was held by Monique. Sitting at his head, was Jinx who smiled at him. Kaz had already lighted a candle, with the use of Laz's own pocket lighter and now the thin smell of incense wafted through the air, it was oddly comforting. Beforehand, Millie had sprinkled the living room with white sand. It had been spread circular wise around the entire room, but mostly around the window and the doorway into the room. She was now in the process of holding both her crosses over his hand, and although he could see that neither hand moved an inch, and both were steady in their grip, both crosses twirled in counter-clockwise circular motions. Monique simply held her eyes shut and her eyebrows had furrowed, as if she was in pain. Jinx had fastened a necklace with a rusted old fashioned key around her neck and was now leaning over his head, her hands rubbing his temples in circular motions. Ehry and Merc simply watched from the sidelines as Kaz took a seat next to them.

"Alright, Lazarus, I would like you to take five deep, and calming breaths." She whispered softly. "Empty your mind and try to relax." Laz replied, and with each breath, did his best to empty his mind, and seemingly enough, succeeded, he was however, not relaxed at all. He had a kimono wearing oddity at his head, telling him some mumbo-jumbo hocus-pocus words, his left hand was held by an enchanting seductress, who probably was a whore judging by her attire, and his right was held by a girl who claimed to be an exorcist and was holding two crosses above his hand that were twirling, even though she wasn't moving.

"Alright, now I want you to count backwards, from a hundred, to zero." Lazarus gave a mental sigh and shut his eyes. "Remember, try to relax." Her voice cut in soothingly, and Laz gave a tiny mumble that could have been a curse.

"One hundred, ninety-nine, ninety-eight, ninety-seven…" His mouth began to form the words, his mind trailing. It was when he hit the seventies that he began to slow, his mind was so tired, his eyes were now closed of free will instead of forced shut, and he barely even felt the floor beneath him. Was he drugged? Maybe the water, or the incense, did they have some sort of sedative in them? Despite these thoughts, no panic arose to his mind, he was still awake, he could still take action if needed, so, he calmed himself down and resumed counting.

Unbeknownst to Laz, his counting had taken a severe dive, while his mind still counted coherently, and in perfect sense, his mouth had begun to form other words.

"Seventy-three… fifty-nine…twenty-one… sixty-five…" Merc and Ehry shared a knowing glance as Kaz's eyes narrowed.

'Why is it getting so hard to count…?' Laz wondered vaguely, his mind had now gone foggy, his senses were dulled, at best, and his body was lulled into a comforting sleep. Dimly he realized his mouth had stopped moving at thirty-two, and try as he might, he just couldn't open his lips to count again.

He found the hypnotic motions of Jinx's hands relaxing and just couldn't get himself agitated, the pillows, incense and massage had finally lulled him into a state of security.

"Now, I want you to imagine you are at the top of a spiral staircase, there are ten steps in all, and at the bottom is a bed, the softest bed with the warmest blankets and the fluffiest pillows you could ever find. I want you to imagine that with each step you take, you feel your body getting relaxed, and with each step you get more sleepy, more tired. Now take that first step." And Lazarus did, and he felt it.

'This must be a mind over matter thing… damn analytical skills, go away!' He thought incoherently as he took that first step, and immediately felt his shoulders relax.

"Now the second… and the third… now the fourth…" Magic, one word to describe what was happening. His body seemed so heavy now, so… exhausted, what was she doing to him?

"Now the fifth, your body is so tired now, so tired and your mind is so sleepy… and the sixth… the seventh…"

It had to be magic, how was she hoodwinking him like this? But… he felt so peaceful, so tired, so sleepy, why fight today? Leave the battles to be fought another day…

"Now the eighth, you are so sleepy now, so tired… you want nothing more than to get to that bed, to curl up and go to sleep under the warm covers, but don't worry… you're close. The ninth step…"

He was there, so close did the bed dance out of his reach, so tantalizingly close, and yet so far, his mind yearned for that bed.

"And finally, the tenth step." She whispered, her voice soft and soothing. Laz took that step, and reached a whole new level of consciousness. His mind was empty, but peacefully so, his body was at ease, and Millie nodded to Jinx, when she felt his hand fall from its muscle support, and completely lay there on her lap, almost lifeless. Monique opened her eyes, and nodded to Jinx with a soft smile.

"Now, Lazarus… I want you to remember this one word, Kaz." Jinx said with a glance at Kaz, he simply sat there, though his lips curved upwards into something resembling a smile. "This is your safe word, should you ever hear this word in your trance, you will immediately wake up, and you will be safe, do you understand?"

"…m'yes…" Lazarus murmured incoherently, his chestnut brown hair pooled beneath his head and his eyes were shut, his body felt so light for some reason, was he sleeping on the floor? Or air?

"Now… Lazarus, tell me… dig deep into your mind… what is the name you were called before…?" Jinx asked softly, her eyes narrowed with concentration. Laz narrowed his eyes, before something suddenly flashed in his consciousness, and for the first time, he recalled a vision in his mind's eye.

_Fire, it burned everywhere._

_"Those fucking bastards didn't say it was going to be like this!" He yelled, his fists clenched, his body burning._

_"Take Heero and go, we'll be fine!" A copper haired teenager directed at him, his hair was concentrated into his bangs, and it covered one eye, another startling green one peeked out from beneath and stared at him furiously._

_"But-!"_

_"**Go!**" The teen interrupted his call and for a moment he hesitated._

_"Duo look out!" Slow motion, his head whirled to face the battle, and as his head rotated, he saw a flash of silver steel, and vaguely noticed movement on his right side._

Laz's body tightened and his eyebrows furrowed. For a moment Jinx wondered if she would have to use the safe-word, when Laz suddenly relaxed, and opened his mouth to form two single words, words he had recalled from the vision.

"… Duo Maxwell."

* * *

"God I hate this, the weather is so shitty today."

"Lilo, if you don't shut up I'm going to have to kill you." A voice replied surly. The speaker was a young male with dark brown hair that fanned over his eyes in thick bangs, and ended in a thin ponytail that ended just past his shoulder blades. Deep blue eyes were calm and his pale skin was practically screaming to be marked in some way. His slender throat vanished beneath the collar of a thick shirt that possessed a hood, and his shin high pants were khaki color. Biker gloves covered his hands and he slicked back his rain-soaked hair with a grin.

"Now Ren, we know our beloved kitsune has a bad spot for rain." A third speaker commented mildly. The male had a mane of messy black hair that flew everywhere in a mockery of Harry Potter. His green eyes were twinkling with mischievous energy and his tall body was thick with muscle. Clothed in tough, durable, black, loose pants that ended in military boots and a brown belt at his waist, it continued into a skin tight shirt and several black bands littered his arms and wrists. He hauled a large canvas sack over his shoulder and was grinning at the first speaker.

Her raven black hair was curled and slightly frizzy in the rain, it went past her shoulders and her short form was clothed in a sopping wet black shirt, and an equally sopping wet pair of jeans. Sneakers shod her feet and a necklace disappeared beneath her collar.

"Kale, you can die." Lilo hissed at the tall male dressed in black.

"Now that's just not nice." Ren, the young male dressed in the hoodie commented vaguely.

"When is she ever nice?" Kale asked jokingly, the question was directed at Lilo, the short girl with frizzy hair.

"Kiss my ass!" Lilo snapped flipping him the finger. Kale shared a glance with Ren, and burst out laughing.

"I think Lilo is having a bad day!" Ren commented to Kale who grinned.

"Really? I never would have guessed!"

"That is IT!" Kale and Ren shared a unanimous eep and bolted ahead, leaving the angry girl to chase them behind in the pouring rain.

Speeding around the corner with inhuman speed, Kale sent drops of water flying as his foot snapped from the ground, his footsteps sure and quick as they gripped the sidewalk reassuredly. His long and lithe form was arched and his body curved as his hips rotated, his arms pumping in his strides, and a large grin on his face.

Behind him Ren was clumsily trying to keep up, his form nowhere near as graceful as Kale's. Finally with a growl of annoyance he suddenly picked up his speed and pushed off one foot with as much power he could muster from his momentum. Sailing through the air, he smiled, despite the rain.

"Oh yeah!" He called as his form soared, and when he finally landed running, his total distance of air time by his jump was twelve feet, impossible for any human to accomplish.

"Ren you arse! Do you want people to think we're weird!" Lilo demanded from behind, her breath was labored as she tried to catch up. Her hair streamed out behind her and her eyes were narrowed with annoyance as she chased them.

"They already think we're weird." Kale added in from where he stood, at the end of a block that Ren and Lilo had yet to start. "And c'mon, we'd better hurry up, this storm is about to get worse in a little bit." He commented as he glanced upwards at the sky and sniffed the air.

"… a lot worse." He muttered softly under his breath. Shaking his head, he gave a mild grin at Ren and Kale and dashed around the corner.

"H-hey! Kale!" Ren yelled angrily, his feet slapping the wet pavement as he too vanished around the corner. Lilo scowled and picked up the pace, cursing them angrily beneath her breath. Rounding the corner she wished dearly for the ability to smite them where they stood, but Jinx would get upset with her if she did that…

Damn it all to hell.

She picked up the pace and as she ran faster, ran head first right into Ren's back. And fell back onto her ass.

"OW!" She squealed as her rump smacked wet concrete and she glanced up angrily.

"What's the hold up?" Lilo demanded. "Why are we standing outside?" But both Kale and Ren ignored her as they glanced ahead.

"…the gate…" Ren managed out, looking stunned. Lilo glared.

"Yeah, the gate, are we going to open it today?" She huffed arrogantly.

"…the gate is already open." Kale whispered gently, his eyes narrowed, and Lilo could swear his hackles were raised. However she was too busy digesting over this newest fact.

"What?" She demanded scrabbling to her feet and ignoring her wet rump, she glanced over their shoulders and found with shock the gates were indeed open.

"But… no one said they would leave Twilight today… and only…"

"Only one of us can open the gate. Unless…" Kale trailed off, his brow furrowed and his mind wandered over a remaining possibility. Ren gaped at him openly, shock clearly evident across his face.

"No way! Ehry would have told us of a visitor, her scrys are infallible!"

"Unless… the one coming…" Lilo murmured, trailing off, the possibility beyond comprehension and beyond the speaking of words.

"Is stronger than her." Kale whispered softly. Shaking his head, he started forward, hefting the canvas sack over his back, when he suddenly hesitated, and his eyes widened.

"How-!" He managed to get out before he suddenly was violently thrown back.

"KALE!" Ren yelled running to his side Lilo gaped openly.

"A barrier…"

"Shit…" Kale hissed rubbing his abused appendages and glancing up at the house that was his home. "Jinx must be doing a trance." He muttered.

"But that wouldn't keep us from entering!" Lilo protested.

"It would… if the person who is undergoing the trance is subconsciously blocking us." Ren muttered with distaste as he helped Kale to his feet.

"That… or the person being put under is doing a memory recall and-" He was suddenly caught off as a chill descended on his body, his eyes widened as he shivered uncontrollably, Lilo felt the chill and backed away, eyes wide in horror as Ren instinctively growled, flexing his hands and showing canine tooth, his eyes narrowed into cat-like slits. Kale glanced up, his eyes narrowed with the prospect of a challenge.

"… and something in that person's memory is blocking anyone from helping them. Guys, I think Jinx is in over her head." Without hesitation all three bounded forward, intent on reaching the house, and was willing to go through hell, high-water, and whatever plague may have barred their way.

* * *

Jinx smiled slightly and nodded softly.

"Alright Duo…" She whispered, and Kaz suddenly shifted. His eyes glanced out the window and he frowned.

_Do you feel that?_ He asked, reaching out with his abilities and connecting to the minds of Mercutio and Ehry.

_A pressure, right? Something constrictive?_ Merc replied without skipping a beat, his gaze calm and focused as he continued to gaze at Jinx, Millie, Monique and the newly named Duo.

_Definitely, and I don't like it. Hell I don't like this guy, period. Why didn't I see him coming today?_ Ehry thought angrily, her hands clenching and unclenching.

_Easy, easy. We'll find this out soon enough, don't you worry your pretty little head over it._ Merc said gently with a small smirk and a glance at the tom-boy from the corner of his eye.

"Now, Duo." Jinx began again and they refocused their attention. "I am about to give you a visual recall, while you bring back your memories, this will allow me to see them, is that alright?"

Duo frowned for a moment, before sighing gently, barely a little more than a fluttering of lips and allowed a single syllable to drift past his mouth.

"…yes…" Jinx nodded, her gaze gentle and filled with mother-loving care.

"Alright, Duo Maxwell, I want you to remember your life."

_Laughter. He was running through a street-market, ah. This memory. Duo smiled with fondness, when he had been a petty thief, it wasn't always fun, but he was carefree. And happy. Transition, the streets vanished to reform a house, a merry fire crackling in the fireplace, a table lay near it, cards littered the top._

"_That's another round guys, fork 'em up!" His memory self called merrily, a ridiculous Santa hat perched on top of his crown, his hair braided neatly._

"_Fucking hell… why did we agree to this idiocrity again?" A Chinese whose name was Chang Wufei, growled surly as he undid his shirt and chucked it at his memory self. A blonde - Arab? - sighed heavily and gave his memory self a shoe, while the third- the copper brown haired youth with an absurd bang focused hair style smiled._

"_And why is Barton the only one not losing clothing at an accelerated rate?" Wufei demanded. _

"_Because Wuffles," his memory self said and grinned at the red-flush he had known would show. "-Trowa can actually play cards, and not just Mahjong like you, you cheater." He teased. Wufei scowled._

"_Maxwell! You try my patience, do not call me a cheater and bring my honor into question!" He said hatefully, anger gleaming his eyes, at least… he thought it was anger. His memory self glared back, his cheeks flushed, and evidentially he had seen the gleam over the Chinese's eyes as well, had known what it meant and simply smirked at the danger._

"_What honor Wuffles?" Memory Duo asked sweetly. With a roar of rage Wufei started forward, only to be stopped when a hand shot forward and secured a firm grip over his thin ponytail. Yanking him back, an annoyed youth with messy dark-brown, shortly cropped hair simply sipped a mug of something hot, his eyes were closed and his composure was calm and collected. Smooth would have been one word to describe._

"_Chang, why are you yelling when we all know you don't mean it?" He asked vaguely as his eyes slipped open, their gaze cold and calculated, but glazed with amusement. Wufei clenched his fists and glared at the new-comer._

"_Quiet Yuy!" _

"_Wufei… c'mon… it was just a friendly game of cards." The Arab pleaded nervously, he seemed to be the peacekeeper of the group by default. Wufei sighed and after forcing the brunette to release his hair shook his head._

"_Alright Quatre, I'll calm my rage and deliver it at a more appropriate time tonight in the privacy of my rooms." He said calmly, and glared at memory Duo, his eyes marking sworn revenge. Memory Duo simply smiled sweetly and shuffled the cards._

"_Well now, you going to finally join in Heero?" He asked cheerfully._

Duo felt his body freeze. Heero… that was Heero…

Heero was dead…

But before his mind could even contemplate this, his mind quickly fell into scene from scene, they were shorter than the last, but for what reasons he couldn't comprehend.

_Talking to some old men, bosses apparently._

_Blowing up bases, Heero was by his side, both hefting some pretty powerful firearms._

_Wufei yelling at him, again. It was the third time that day._

_Heero and himself riding in a truck together, both were sweaty, tired, and bloody. Evidentially they were partners in whatever he and Heero did._

_Talking with Trowa, they trusted each other. Duo knew that._

_Quatre tending to his wounds. Quatre was a caring source he had never possessed as a child._

_His room at night, insomniac?_

Suddenly his mind whirled, and a spike of pleasure entered his consciousness, a sharp intake of breath marked this memory, oh god… it didn't take a genius to figure it out. His room, night, and he was in bed.

'This is not something I want to share with Jinx!' He thought with panic, but it seemed his memories were in charge now.

_Hands, they traveled over his body, creating so many sensations, for God's sake, he felt like he was going to die from the sheer pleasure of it, and from the frustration._

"_Please…" His mouth formed the words, his lips were swollen with kisses, and his back was arched._

"_Patience fledgling…" A silken voice purred. Now memory Duo and the modern Duo were one and the same, he could feel his hands guiding themselves up his lover's torso, and modern Duo made a shocking discovery._

_His lover was male._

Memory switch, and God, Duo didn't know if he was relieved or disappointed, both it seemed. But his mind finally entered the final memory he would be shown tonight, quite possibly the last memory he would ever want to recover.

Pressure.

All of a sudden it filled the room, it was like scuba-diving and they were buried beneath thousands of leagues of water, all of it pushing down, crushing them underneath the force.

"What the-!" Merc got out as he tried to stand, he managed to get to his feet, before freezing, an icy feeling crept into his body and numbed his actions, try as he might, his body seemed paralyzed, and his mind was spinning with shock, surprise, and a new one, fear.

"What's going-?" Kaz got out past his numbed lips, he was frozen at his spot on the couch, his body would not respond to the commands issued by his mind, and he bit his lower lip. What in the name of all nine hells was going on!

"Get… Jinx…" Ehry hissed, her skin rippled and she toppled from the couch, clutching her throat. "Stop… the… trance…" She snarled, before arching her back and letting a cat-like yowl rip the air.

"M-Millie?" Monique gasped out, her hands frozen around Duo's, she winced and shivered. "W-what-?"

"Something is breaking the barriers!" Millinear cried in awe, her pendants were swinging wildly in circular rhythms. "I can't stop it… if I move, the barriers will break!" She cried. "W-wake Jinx!"

Monique turned to the mentioned girl and with a great exertion of effort, extracted one hand from its clasp around Duo's and reached out towards Jinx, who seemingly was stuck in the trance as well.

"J-Jinx!" Monique called as she slowly reached out.

"Ah!" Merc yelped as he fell to one knee, pain berating his senses, his hair shifted color, from it's forest brown to a platinum blonde, and back to brown. "W-why is it…?" He got out glancing up. "M-messing with our forms?"

Monique's fingers brushed Jinx's shoulder, when suddenly she was repelled, by some unknown force.

"Ah!" Monique gasped, her finger tingled as pain shot through her veins like wildfire. "A b-barrier?"

"Shit… if we don't wake Jinx up then-!" Merc growled. He finished the sentence in his consciousness.

_We're dead!_

* * *

"Dammit!" Kale yelled as he skidded back, several bruises marked his arms and fists, his lower lip had begun to bleed furiously with how much he was biting it, and his eyes were narrowed with mad animalistic fury.

"The barrier isn't letting us through…" Ren growled surly, nursing his bruised legs.

"Well we have to get through soon or-!" Lilo cried out frustrated when she froze, Ren gaped openly, as did Kale. They all felt it.

A spike of dark chaotic power from within the house.

"That's it! That's why we can't break the barrier!" Ren suddenly cried on realization. "We don't have the power attribute to break it! The only one who does is-!" He suddenly stopped mid-sentence and paled. "…oh shit…"

"The only one who can break it is someone with dark-chaotic powers." Kale finished, his face strained.

"K-Kale… can't you do it? I mean… you do control darkness…" Lilo offered half-heartedly. Kale shook his head.

"I control a dark-moonlight attribute, we need dark-chaotic, dark-death, or dark-destruction. I don't fill any of those, the only one who does is…"

"Akito, goddamn it all, Akito!" Ren roared angrily slamming his fists onto the pavement.

"Well, lets hope Akito decides he'll help out." Kale murmured, his face narrowed with frustration.

"Help out!" Ren demanded. "Sure, if Akito decides to help then that's one problem gone, but it drops a shit load of a bigger problem into our laps! We'll be lucky if he doesn't go homicidal!" He screeched tearing at his hair.

"Well… it's our only option." Kale protested slightly, but even then it was only half hearted.

"…We are so screwed." Lilo grumbled and plopped down onto the wet pavement, looking exceptionally defeated.

* * *

As a cascade of water flowed down his body, and discovered every crevice of his lean and well built body, the youth turned his face upwards to allow the water to beat his eyelids. Exhaustion from his training had settled in, and as the water wiped away the streaks of red blood- not his own of course, never his own- he prepared for a relaxing day.

God what he would give to feel this carefree every waking moment of his life. Gradually his hand inched for the shampoo, he wanted to wash the blood from his hair before doing anything else.

Of course, when a large chill settled into the house, he stiffened, then swore.

Always on his watch, always in his category, for the love of Chaos, why couldn't these things just let him be in peace?

Snapping off the faucet with a sharp jerk he flung the shower curtains aside and grabbed a pair of ruined shorts, ignoring the stains on them, he jerked them on roughly and yanked open the door, his mood something less than pleasant. Narrowed crimson eyes were gleamed with annoyance as he started down the stairs, and any barriers and malevolent spirits he happened to encounter that were supporting the barriers he encountered… well, it was just their unlucky day.

* * *

_A battlefield, obviously._

_Fire, it burned everywhere._

_"Those fucking bastards didn't say it was going to be like this!" He yelled, his fists clenched, his body burning._

_"Take Heero and go, we'll be fine!" A copper haired teenager, Trowa he now realized, directed at him. _

_"But-!" Duo protested._

_"**Go!**" The teen interrupted his call and for a moment he hesitated._

_"Duo look out!" Slow motion, his head whirled to face the battle, and as his head rotated, he saw a flash of silver steel, and vaguely noticed movement on his right side. A rough force pushed him out of the way, and he vaguely realized a burning in his inner thigh, that freaky bastard must have cut him with his sword. Landing on the ground, his head smacked against the steel plated floor, knocking him for a loop, but when he sat up, he glanced up, dazed, but alive. But what had pushed him? Why wasn't he dead?_

_Gazing up, his eyes widened. He couldn't mistake that body. That muscular form, how many times had he seen it bare? Nor could he mistake the silver blade that was pushed through his partner's lower torso. It still gleamed silver, even though it had been shoved through so much muscle, flesh and bone. Blood dripped from it's sharpened tip, and Duo opened his mouth to release a single, anguished scream._

"_HEERO!"_

That was what had been creating the barrier. Jinx, vaguely realized. She felt the barrier yes, she could feel the pressure, and the suffering of her comrades, but was powerless to stop it. Why?

Because Duo's enemy was just that powerful, even from a mere memory recall.

Typically, she should have been able to end the trance with but an utterance of the word 'Kaz', the safe word, but she was numbed, her lips refused to open, her tongue refused to form words, she was helpless, trapped in this trance. But trances, while simply memories, are active memories, the people in the memory are in a means, as real as people today, simply stuck on the astral plane of existence. However, it seemed Duo's enemy was well versed in navigation of the spiritual plane, worse, he knew if he was in a memory recall, and it seemed he would take advantage of every possible moment. What she would give for the ability to stop this!

"Fuck…" Merc swore, he had fallen to both knees, one hand fisted the material of his shirt on his chest, over his heart, and he cursed. "Not like this… not…" He snarled and fell full to the floor. Gazing at Jinx one last time, his eyes widened as he saw a Vampiric shadow looming over Jinx and Duo, his eyes were slipping shut and he groaned. "Oh god…" He swore. "Aki… help…"

"**Release!"** A voice suddenly yelled. It was clear and crystalline, and for a brief moment, silence, nothing but silence. Then shattering, and a great wave of pain as the pressure was relieved, Ehry clapped her hands over her ears and shrieked pain as the force was equalized too quickly. Millie was forced to break her position as she fell back and yelled, Monique's eyes rolled back, and from pure exertion, and from the force of the spell that had been released, fainted. Kaz suddenly jumped to his feet, startled, but not shaken. Thrusting his hand out in the direction of Jinx, he screamed;

"**BEGONE!"** With a swift unfurling of the sudden appearance of ebony black wings, Kaz flared his wings and white fire exploded from the palm of his hand, it hit the shadow hovering over Jinx and Duo, and merged with the shadow, before destroying it completely. Kaz sighed, and was about to relax, however the new-comer did no such thing.

_Mixed vision, good god what was happening? He had heard the word 'release', but release what? All he saw was his enemy, toss Heero's body aside like trash, and come towards him. His legs refused to move, his body refused to respond. Vaguely he felt tears run down the sides of his cheeks and he sobbed._

_Was this how he was going to die?_

"_DUO!" Trowa yelled moving forward, no use, a simple wave of the monster's hand sent Trowa flying back. What **was** he?_

"_Die." The monster hissed through fanged teeth. Double vision._

_It was as if his left eye saw something totally different from what his right saw. The monster raised his sword, ready to strike._

The figure raised the same arm, it didn't hold a sword, but it was raised nonetheless, and before the monster in his memory could lower that flashing blade, the figure snapped his hand to his opposite side, right across Duo's face.

A large crack filled the air and pain spread from his right cheek, pain that snapped the memory's hold on him.

And Jinx was finally free.

"KAZ!" She screamed, and Duo jumped free, the image of the monster he had fought vanished before his mind's eye and he panted, struggling to sit up, ignoring the spasms of pain from his body and he grabbed his gun and automatically flicked the safety off, his hand scrabbling over the trigger, ignoring the fierce stinging of his cheek.

"Stop it." A voice hissed, and an iron-firm grip secured itself around his wrist. "Before you misfire that gun and kill someone." Duo didn't know why, but he did calm down, the voice had a soothing affect on him, perhaps it was the fact that someone was speaking calmly through this entire mascharade. His breath came in heavy gasps and he struggled to regain his composure, one hand was held to his chest as he glanced at the new-comer, and his breath hitched in his throat.

Now that Duo had discovered he was gay, or bi, whichever, guys suddenly became far more attractive, not that he would fall for anyone soon.

But what is hotter that a guy in torn shorts, soaking wet, and practically naked? Raven black hair in soaked, clumped locks glared at him, crimson orbs were set in an eagle featured face, sharp angles made him mysterious, and dangerous looking. His pale skin was a perfect contrast to his hair, and he was at least 6'2 in height, a bloody beanpole. His chest was well muscled, but lean, his arms were powerful, and his legs were built for running. Water droplets adorned his skin and he seemed perfectly at ease, being half naked.

"Thank god Aki, took your sweet time." Merc hissed leaning against the couch for support as he gasped for air. The male glanced over his shoulder and smirked venomously.

"Fashionably late." He commented and started out the door again. "Now that this mess is taken care of, don't disturb me again, I want to finish my shower." He glowered surly, but before he could even take a step, they heard the sound of something resembling wood being broken in several places, and three people burst through the door, Duo, before he even thought about it, hefted his gun in the direction of the covered awning, and gaped as his gaze was met with three, bedraggled and soaking wet people.

"Oh." Kale commented when he saw Aki. "Took care of it I guess." He said vaguely.

"Move." The youth snarled and shoved Ren and Lilo out of his way, before heading up the stairs and back to his room. At the odd silence that filled the room, Mercutio finally broke it by clearing his throat and pointing at the direction the youth had left.

"By the way Duo, that was Akito." Duo blinked for a moment, before turning to Jinx and nodding.

"You were right." Jinx, who was shivering and breathing deeply glanced at him.

"Pardon?"

"You were right." Duo repeated calmly as he clicked the safety on his gun back on.

"Right? About what?"

"About Akito. I don't like him at all." Duo finished dully as he slumped over in a dead faint.

Disclaimer: I own all original characters, and the plot. I do not own Duo, Trowa, Heero, Quatre, or Wufei.


	4. Malachi

_**Chapter 3**_

"Right? About what?"

"About Akito. I don't like him at all." Duo said with a high quality of distaste as he slumped over in a dead faint. Merc glanced at him, one delicate eyebrow raised and he managed to stagger to his feet, though his stance was a bit shaken, he managed to cross the floor and peer down at Duo's prone form, before whistling.

"Maybe doing a memory recall wasn't such a great idea. This guy must have been exhausted when we began, and I don't think forcing him to fight off his memories was such a great idea." Millie scowled at him as she straightened herself, readjusted her top, before lifting Monique's head and placing a pillow underneath.

"That wasn't obvious at all Mercutio." She said snappishly, her voice had a grating edge to it, it was clear to any that she was extremely shaken by the events. Merc simply shook his head at her, and sighed heavily as Millie proceeded to pull a blanket over Monique's form.

"Will she be alright?" Ren asked worriedly as he glanced at the enchantress's still form.

"She's just exhausted herself, the spell took a lot out of her." Millie explained as she finished her task and sat back. "We were lucky, if the trance had lasted any longer, I would have lost the barriers and we would have been in real trouble then." She mumbled glancing at the ceiling, and for the first time, Lilo noted the streaks of sweat on her forehead and skin, tiny beaded drops that glimmered in the light.

"Well, we had best fix Duo and Jinx up, Duo especially, Monique would have a raging fit if we let him sleep in one of her beds in his condition." Kaz finally commented standing, his gaze traveling over Duo's body, registering all of the opened wounds.

Wait a minute…

"Shit!" Kaz suddenly swore viciously and everyone turned to glance at him as he rushed to Duo's side and began examining his form. "Dammit all…" He grumbled, his fingers traveling over Duo's suddenly reopened wounds.

"Damn, I guess the spirits of his recalled memory disagreed with him." Merc muttered scratching the back of his head distortedly.

"Wait- then that means-!" Ren suddenly yelped. Kale gave a low growl, equivalent to that of a wolf's and was immediately at Jinx's side, her heavy breathing should have warned them all.

"Fucking hell…" Kale snarled, his keen nose had picked up the scent of blood from Jinx, and he now noticed a deep crimson stain seeping onto her clothes. Slashes from a blade littered her arms, similar, and quite possibly the same cuts Duo had sustained, especially a large one on her inner thigh.

"Millie, are you alright?" Kale asked glancing in the direction of the exorcist, who nodded.

"Monique and I got some of the lash-backs, but save for a bruising, we'll be fine." She commented indicating to the thin and neat little marks of red that littered her arms.

"Damn, whoever tried to kill this guy really has it in for him, that and he's one powerful piece of shit. I think we should just toss this guy back out, what say you?" Merc asked sheepishly with a nervous laugh.

"We can't." A raspy voice coughed out. All eyes turned back onto Jinx as she coughed again and glanced up. "This is too important. He is… he will bring us to _him_." Jinx stammered out before breaking into another round of dry coughs, her throat itched to no end and she found it hard to breath. Kaz immediately left the room and came back a few minutes later with a glass of water, kneeling down next to Jinx, he tipped her head back and poured a few drops into her throat.

"Slowly… slowly…" Kaz whispered, his eyes narrowed with concentration. Pulling the glass back, he waited for her to breath normally before handing her the glass again. Jinx took it with both hands and cradled the crystal with a nod of thanks before she lifted it up to her lips and swallowed some more. Kaz took this opportunity to rub her throat gently as he watched her Adam's apple bob up and down.

"Better?" He asked gently when Jinx had drained the last drop and let her head drop down again, she nodded stiffly.

"Just tired. This took a lot out of me." She whispered. Kaz nodded.

"Rest then. Here, just lie back." He ordered sternly and assisted her into a comfortable position, cradling a pillow under her head, he smiled to her and kissed her forehead.

"Sleep priestess." As soon as his lips left her forehead, her eyes shut and she fell into a dreamless sleep.

"I must tend to them, if you have no further business, please leave." Kaz exclaimed calmly with a nod. "Oh, and take him with you. Pry what answers you may from him." He said with a glance at Duo.

"Great." Merc commented, he had been thus silent throughout the whole exchange. "And how are we going to wake him?" He demanded. Kaz ignored this question and simply kneeled down, placed his middle and index finger on the teenager's forehead, he whispered a single word, and a flash of violet light sparked, before Kaz withdrew his fingers.

"That should be enough to sustain him for a few hours. Now begone." He said quietly and exited the room. Merc blinked at him, before sharing a confused glance with Kale.

"Dude, why is he in such a shitty mood?" The youth asked confused.

"Maybe he's just upset… Lord knows I am." Ren muttered distastefully.

"Who **isn't**?" Lilo asked with a roll of her eyes.

"…whatever." Kale muttered and standing, he walked over to Duo's form, and ignoring the bleeding cuts, picked him up bridal style and carried him out of the room.

* * *

Akito was pissed, and not just mildly so, **severely** so.

'It's not bad enough this will throw off the rest of my day, but then that fool has to go and put Jinx in danger.' He thought angrily, his stomps echoing off the corridor walls. Feeling too irritated to walk back to his own room to finish his shower, he simply took a sharp turn into the public bathroom and slammed the door shut, rattling several picture frames that littered the walls. Stripping off his shorts he quickly turned the knob on the faucet and released the shower spray, without waiting for the water to warm, he stepped under the spray and simply growled annoyance as he began to quickly run his fingers through blood matted hair. Glancing about, he narrowed his eyes at the choice of shampoo and sighed.

It came down to Mercutio, or Kaz's. Opting for the choice that wouldn't get him a lecture later, he quickly grabbed Mercutio's and squeezed a good amount onto his hands, before lathering it in his raven locks. The scent of citrus and fructose filled the air and he breathed deeply, might as well calm himself down. Shaking the last drops of soap from his hair, he grabbed some spare soap and lathered himself up, before rinsing himself clean, and in his impatience, he was scrubbing at his arm, when his finger slipped and his nail dug into his flesh, giving himself a tiny cut. It was paltry in term of injury, but a hiss of surprise escaped his lips and he scowled, observing the wound.

Deeming it unimportant, he finished up and turned off the water. Stepping from the shower, he grabbed the first clean towel off the rack and wrapping that around his hips, grabbed his shorts and tossed them in the laundry hamper.

* * *

Duo was vaguely aware of the fact that someone was carrying him. Someone with muscular arms and a rock hard chest. His eyebrows furrowed and he squirmed slightly.

"Hey, sleeping beauty is up." A rouge voice commented in his ear, a little too close. The warmth of the breath tickled his hairs and sent an electric jolt up his spine, snapping his eyes open, he glanced upwards in surprise to find a mountain of a man carrying him. His black and untamed hair gave him a feral look, almost beast-like.

"W-whoa…" Duo managed out as he glanced around, apparently they were going upstairs.

"I'm going to assume you'll want to shower. No offense, but you look like shit and smell worse." The stranger commented with a friendly grin, so infectious that Duo had to grin back.

"I gathered." Duo muttered as he squirmed a bit in his captor's arms. "Can you put me down? I feel uncomfortable being carried, not that there's anything wrong with being carried by such a piece of manliness as yourself." He said with a flash of a sly wink. The male laughed and obeyed as they reached the upper landing and set Duo onto his feet.

"As you wish. Here, the shower is right this way- oh, I guess Akito decided to finish his shower here." He commented vaguely as he noticed the door he had pointed to was shut tightly, and an attempt at turning the knob proved it was locked.

"Ah. Akito is the black haired guy, the other one right?" Duo clarified, so many names with new faces, it was going to take a while to memorize them all. The man nodded.

"Yep, oh, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Kale." The large man said while offering him a hand, Duo nodded and took the hand.

"Duo Maxwell."

"Nice to meet you Duo, oh, looks like our esteemed grouch might be done." Kale suddenly commented glancing at the door. Duo blinked, how had he gathered that guess?

He was about to ask, when the door opened and a waft of steam and perfume fluttered out. And out stepped Akito, wet as ever, his hair looking much better, and smelling much more pleasant. A small white towel wrapped around his waist, but only barely and hung off his hips, revealing quite a bit of skin.

"Hey Aki." Kale called cheerfully, but cowered slightly when all he received was a venomous glare.

"Hn." He commented vaguely and started to walk off when Kale suddenly narrowed his eyes. His arm latched out and clasped around Aki's wrist, quite nearly yanking him back. Crimson red eyes shot back to look at him and they were narrowed with hate.

"What are you-?" He hissed, but was cut off when Kale narrowed in on his arm, his eyes had gone lifeless as he stared at the trail of blood that dripped from his small puncture. Aki blinked for a moment, before scowling.

"Aki… please…" Kale whispered, his voice pleading. Duo gaped in open surprise and confusion at the exchange as Aki growled his annoyance and ran a hand through his hair, before rolling his eyes.

"Fine, but make sure you don't get greedy like last time." A smile brightened Kale's face and he nodded.

"Of course."

Before Duo could even asked what was going on, he was cut off when Kale suddenly lowered his lips, a flash of incredible canine fangs was apparent before his lips landed on Aki's skin, right over the tiny cut, and the teen felt his stomach lurch when he heard lapping sounds.

"Whoa man, you think you could do that in a less public place?" A voice demanded as Merc ascended the steps. "Don't forget, Maxwell here isn't used to this stuff like we are." Merc said with a roll of his eyes. At first Aki and Kale ignored him, until Kale stepped back and wiped his lips with the back of his hand, and his eyes gleamed into life once more.

"Oh come on, it was just a bit of blood." Kale said with a glance at Merc, and a soft swipe of his tongue across swollen lips. Duo shivered at the obvious look of bloodlust in the other's eyes.

"Whatever." Aki commented and started up the steps, oblivious to any discomfort Duo may have felt.

"Well anyway, have fun guys, I'm gonna go get me a meal." Merc said cheerfully and with a sly wink to Duo and Kale (at which Duo sputtered at), Merc raced up the stairs after Aki.

"So, Aki-chan, care to join me?" His smooth voice echoed off the walls as the taller male wrapped an arm around Aki's waist.

"Go away."

"-sigh- you could be a little more nicer to me."

"Fuck off."

"Geez, somebody not get their happy hormones today?"

"Merc, do I have to kill you?" Akito demanded viciously as they rounded the next flight of stairs. Mercutio smiled a mysterious smile and simply shrugged.

"Maybe." He said quietly, and when Aki glanced at him to clarify his answer, Merc simply glanced ahead and hummed a tiny little song. Giving up on it as a lost cause, Aki simply assured himself his towel wasn't slipping off and made it his goal to stay as far away from Mercutio in the future as possible.

"Say… Aki…" Merc began as they arrived at the next landing.

"Hm?" Aki asked glancing at his companion dimly, when a pair of fingers curled around his chin and pulled his mouth in, the youth's eyes widened considerably as his lips were met with a foreign pair, and almost immediately Merc took the initiative, his tongue sweeping his partner's lips, before drawing back. A faint blush painted Aki's cheeks as he spluttered and pushed the male away.

"W-what the hell-!" Merc simply smiled and licked his lips with a wink.

"Tasty. Sorry love, but you shouldn't have used my shampoo. Every time I smell something of mine on you…" He commented as he took a step closer and idly twirled a lock of Aki's hair on his index finger, curling it around and around, his eyes bored deep into the other's and they carried a hint of predatory lust in their depths. He smirked.

"Well… I just have to have you." Aki gaped openly at him, before coming to his senses, and immediately his arm flew up and swatted Merc's hand away.

"I'm not your fuck toy anymore Mercutio. That ended a long time ago." Aki snarled and walked off. Merc simply gazed after him, smirking.

"The demons aren't going to kill me Akito!" He suddenly called after the brunette, and Aki stopped dead in his tracks. "They're after you, not me. And damned if I'd let something as meager as your kind kill me."

"…you're too cocky. That's why I can't love you anymore." Aki responded simply before continuing his walk. Merc sighed and rubbed the back of his head, forlorn.

"That guy…"

"Stop molesting Aki, before he kills you." A voice commented mildly from behind, and the male yelped and spun around to face Kale's predatory eyes. Flashing his trademark smirk, Merc shrugged and shouldered past him and started down the stairs again.

"I'm just trying to get back a beautiful thing." He called roguishly as he vanished beneath the banister.

Kale eyed him suspiciously, out of their entire group, no one could deny that Mercutio was probably the most conniving and manipulative out of the them all. And with Akito, that was saying something.

'What are you up to you snarky little elf…?'

* * *

Akito slammed the door shut and slumped against it, his breathing ragged and heavy.

"Damn you… damn you!" Aki snarled slamming his fist against the wooden frame. Whirling away from the door he discarded the towel around his waist and slipped on his trademark skin tight, black shirt. The back of the shirt had been torn away, for specific reasons, over his legs he slipped black jeans, and a coat went over-top it all. His motions were angry, and jerky. As he reached for his watch, his hand accidentally sent a cup falling off the table and crashing to the floor. For a minute he simply stared at the cup, before scowling and grabbing another cup that layered the table, and hurled it at the wall.

It shattered with a satisfactory smash and tinkled to the floor in multiple shards, still having not exerted his entire force of rage, he selected another cup and hurled that one to it's oblivion as well. After repeating the action for a third time he finally lowered his arm and gave a yell of frustration.

"Fuck you Mercutio! Why do you keep… doing this to me…?" He mumbled, his anger spent and he sank to the floor, bringing his legs against his chest, he laid his forehead on top of his knees and heaved a heavy breath.

* * *

"And so begins the wheels of fate…" A melodious voice commented softly, it was soft, and difficult to determine gender wise. A young and slender form sat atop a high throne, which was adorned with nothing but the crimson draperies, lain across the wooden surface. The person who occupied the chair preferred it this way, those who flaunted their wealth simply were bragging and egotistically, no, there were no egos here. Such behavior and beliefs led to fatal mistakes, costly ones.

"So how is it… an entire race of super-incarnates, can not track down a simple… battered… broken… human?" His smooth voice rippled like the scales of a venomous snake down the backs of those who stood before him. Each servant shivered with apprehension and silently begged for dismissal, death lined their master's voice, and it promised much pain for the unlucky soul on the receiving end. The man frowned dissatisfactory before suddenly his face brightened as an idea dawned upon him. A man who stood to his side gulped nervously, that was the 'special' look on their lord's face, whenever he got that look, it usually meant the birth of a deep seeded hatred or grudge, one that usually lasted centuries from generation to generation.

It was peculiar how their lord had that special ability to just aggravate anyone he came into contact with.

"Bring him." The lord commanded contemptuously. Immediately two guards fled to do as bid, leaving the two double oaken doors open in their wake. The doors were stained dark wood, but not with the normal darkener paint, but with something much more vile.

Crimson splatters, now dried and dark, trailed a bloody wake on the door, ending only to pool at the ground. The doors themselves were carved with mythical creatures, all of a dark nature.

Werewolves stood on jagged peaks, howling at a full moon, dragons lay at the base of the mountain, curled around the rock and glaring viciously, their fangs bared. A dark angel flew the sky, ebony feathers illuminated by the silver moonlight, and the final carving, a demon chained to the mountain, the chains held sharp barbs in their links, cutting into the flesh of the young darkling, the carving depicted the youth screaming in agony, her head thrown back, raven hair falling over her practically naked form.

The lord smiled with fondness at which the door had been carved. And at the memories of those whose blood covered the carvings.

He was interrupted however, when two beings carted a form through the door, his dark bangs obscured his vision, and his skin was unnaturally pale. No doubt due to the extremities of the blood he had lost. With a malicious smirk, one that revealed dangerous looking canines, he stepped off of his throne and walked down the steps that ascended to his pedestal, to stop in front of the youth, his two faithful bodyguards had pinned the boy's arms behind him, and he approached the youth without caution.

"My, what a pretty one. I am quite glad I didn't dispose of you now." The lord commented as he curled his fingers around the boy's chin and lifted his face up, until they were gazing into each other's eyes. Prussian blue met crimson, edged silver. When the boy ceased to reply, the master smiled ever further.

"I have a task for you, fulfill it, and you will be free. Fail, and I will kill your lovers." This, at least, managed a response from the so far silent and emotionless captive. His eyes widened and his mouth turned agape, before his eyes suddenly turned to fury, his mouth a tight line. The lord laughed and nodded.

"Such a fierce glare! You have good eyes boy… but I think they would be so much better… if they were colored crimson." He commented with a soft grin. Again no reply, just a further widening of the eyes, before the youth suddenly thrashed in a desperate bid for freedom. Such an animalistic reaction startled the lord for a moment, before he smiled, regaining his composure.

"Hold him down." He ordered.

"M-my lord? Would it not be simpler to… to hypnotize him?" A daring guard asked mildly, quivering in his boots. The master shot the guard a venomous glare, before smiling.

"It would, but I want him to feel it. Every, waking, moment of it." He hissed. The guard, gulped before rushing to the youth's side, and suddenly yanked his shoulder back, another ran forward to also assist him. The youth trembled, their strength was unmeasurable, was this how he was going to die?

A freak?

A chaotic-incarnate of darkness?

"Relax… the blood is nowhere near as tasty if you fight." The lord commented sadistically as he took a step forward.

"Don't…" The teen growled out in warning, but could do naught else but watch. The lord grabbed his messy dark brown locks and yanked his head back, this caused the teen to release a short yelp, which he ignored.

Now exposed was a pale, bare and unmarked throat, the ache to claim this flesh was overpowering, and he marveled silently at how much this one boy had affected him. Normally his bloodlust was kept well under control, evidently this was not the case with this one boy.

Intriguing.

"Welcome… dear brother." He hissed as he lowered his lips to the cool flesh, sucking on the salty skin to draw blood to the surface. Pulling back, once a dark red spot marked the pale flesh, he glanced once at the youth, and smiled. The teen stiffened, the smile had allowed him a glance at the large canines that decorated his mouth, canines that had grown in the last 5 minutes.

"D-don't touch me!" He snarled furiously, he struggled wildly, but all for vain, the guards' grips were iron tight and he was helpless as the lord once again lowered his lips to the boy's skin, at first there was nothing, but a warm suckling.

Then a prick of something sharp…

Then pain, it was like being shot with a bullet, the pain intensifying.

A scream of agony ripped from his throat, his eyes clamped shut, his hands fisted so hard that his nails drew blood, his knuckles turned white and still it didn't end.

The pain continued, increased, got worse. Vaguely he felt the energy being suck out of him, his very warmth, it was if he was slowly freezing to death, and for a heart-stopping moment, he froze.

For that was what it was, a heart-stopping moment.

Then… gone.

The pain was all gone, but this gave him no relief, what… **was** he now? The lord stepped back, licking the last drops of crimson blood from his lips and smiling victoriously.

"Well now, that wasn't so bad, was it?" He asked teasingly.

All he received was a venomous glare from now crimson eyes, filled with nothing but hatred, despair, and anguish. He simply smiled in reply.

"And now… **obey.**" His hand flew out and flashed a crimson red light, etched with black in its life, for a moment the teen struggled, before his body fell limp. His eyes now lifeless, he glanced up at the lord again, emotionless. The guards shuddered, what could be worse then to have your emotions wiped?

"Now, let's test your loyalties. What is my name scum?"

"… Lord of the night and unholy world… High King of the Comatose lands." The teen responded softly, voice nothing more than echoes of sound, and a movement of lips. "… You are the first vampire. Lord Malachi." (Mal-la-kai) Malachi smirked and ran his fingertips down the bridge of his newest servant's nose, smiling as they trailed across parched lips and down his pale throat, where a few drops of blood dripped from the two tiny punctures on his neck.

"Good enough, your task is to seek the human Duo Maxwell, kill him, and bring me his head. Fail, and you and your beloved will be severely punished." He warned, he might have been talking to a wall for all the response he got. Getting to his feet, the youth glanced up at him once more, emotionless, before Malachi suddenly stopped as a thought entered his head.

"Ah, my mistake. How rude of me, pray tell me, dear one… what is your name?" He asked calmly, smiling. The lifeless youth glanced up at him… then gave him a sad smile, of lost hope and opened his lips to answer as dull and lifeless ruby eyes glazed into blood red crimson, edged silver.

"… Heero Yuy."

Disclaimer: I own nothing but plot and OCs.


	5. Ren

_**Chapter 4**_

He wasn't having a bad day in any sort of means. No, of course not. He was having an absolutely, downright, goddamn, fucked up, shittiest day.

Hypothetically speaking.

After all, Duo Maxwell couldn't quite _remember_ if this was the worst day of his life, now could he? Here we was, absolutely confused with only bits and pieces of his memory, all the recall had really done for him was help him regain a sense of identity, and a bit of his past.

Kale had explained that was normal, and that it would probably take several more attempts before he fully regained all memories of who he was, and more importantly, how he came to be the way he was.

'Whee, more incense induced dreams that try to screw me over.' Duo thought with a surly growl as he tore his tattered boxers from his legs with little grace and tossed them carelessly to the ground. Giving himself a one over, just to determine how badly in shape he was, he was actually surprised by the sight that greeted him. His eyes roved over unfamiliar, yet somehow expected curves and arcs of flesh, his lean and taunt chest gave a sign he was strong, and lean. Well suited to agility. His calves were muscled and taunt, declaring him a fast runner, his arms were lean and wiry, his frame built yet thin. And he also noted with a great dissatisfaction that he was short. Why this bugged him, he hadn't the foggiest, but it did, and even more than being upset at being short, he was pissed off because he didn't know why.

'It's like watching my life from a fucking TV.' He thought discontentedly as he pulled back wet shower-curtains. Water droplets littered the foggy, translucent, plastic sheets, most likely from Akito's shower beforehand.

Remembering what had happened between Kale and Akito sent a shiver running up his back, why had Akito allowed the tall brunette to do it? Suck the drops of life from his arm and in exchange give him a hicky? The silent and hateful male didn't seem to be the type to allow such behavior, and he highly doubted the two were lovers, he was in the middle of contemplating this when a soft, and mild voice tickled the hairs on his neck, teasing his earlobe, and made him start.

"Do you make it a habit of yours to stand naked in the bathroom and think?" A slightly seductive voice commented mildly, the warm breath teased his skin and raised goosebumps on his arms as he spun around, which turned to be a grave error on his part, the low murmur of the voice alone should have been a dead give away of the approximate distance of how close his companion was.

Parched and dry lips brushed a soft and very kissable pair as cerulean blue eyes met icy emerald.

Duo's eyes widened considerably as he released a squeak of surprise and stepped back, the back of his legs hit the sides of the bathtub, and head first, he began to topple into the tub, something that was sure to cause a considerable amount of pain. His pupils contracted in surprise, and for a single moment, his breath hitched as strands of chestnut brown flailed around his face, obscuring his vision.

_Hair, it blocked his vision, god fucking curse it, why hadn't he just cut the whole thing off! As he fell back, head first, all he saw before an eternal darkness, was a pair of blood red, crimson centered eyes, edged in silver, and a vindictive smirk._

_Then he was swallowed up by cold, darkness, and a welcomed numbing sensation._

"Duo!" A voice broke his reverie and he realized he hadn't hit his head on the plastic linings of the bathtub, his back hadn't even hit the siding yet.

A pale and slender hand was clasped around his wrist, and it led up to the face of a young male, his icy green eyes narrowed with a slight concern, his lips a tight line. With a snap of his arm, Kaz yanked Duo back from his half-fall and into his arms.

"Are you alright?" Kaz asked mildly, as if this was a commonly occurring experience. Duo flushed at the closeness of their bodies and managed to stammer out a yes as he pulled back.

"Uhm, thanks… K-Kace?"

"Kaz. And you are welcome." Kaz replied calmly as his eyes roved over Duo's exposed frame. The brunette flushed even further as his hands strayed to cover his genitals.

"Uh… what are you doing?" He asked slightly embarrassed. Kaz simply kneeled down and with quick, impatient, and efficient hands, shoved aside Duo's pathetic attempt to cover his privates and ran his hands along the inner thigh.

"H-hey! What the hell-?" Duo shrieked when Kaz's calm, composed and crisp voice cut through his indignant yell.

"I'm checking your injuries." He replied bluntly as his fingertips trailed over the large, and bleeding laceration, sending a tingle up his spine and a spike of ecstasy to his brain. With a panicked thought and a firm stomp down onto those feelings he bit his lower lip and swore vividly in his mind.

"Whatever you're doing, can you hurry up?" He asked a little impatiently, mentally squirming.

"I advise that if you receive the urge to pass on your genes, that you take a cold shower." Kaz simply replied and made no effort whatsoever to speed up his examination of the wound. Duo, if possible, went an even deeper red and began a mental chant of sorts.

'Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god…' He thought feeling a little more than humiliated.

'The guys here are all on crack! That or have overly active libidos!' A sudden sharp sting to his thigh broke his thoughts as he gave a little yelp of pain.

"Ow! What the-?" He got out as he suddenly glanced down, a big mistake it seemed as Kaz suddenly got to his feet, the blonde's head connected to Duo's nose and he again, yelped with pain.

"Fucking hell!" Duo snapped, clapping his hand to his nose in agony and moaning through his mouth, his voice sounding a tad bit nasal.

"Language please, and may I request you to remove your hands so I can see if I've broken it?" Kaz asked gently, and without waiting for a reply, tugged away Duo's hands and examined his nose.

"… a mere bruising, you will be in acceptable standards, now if you'll allow me…" He commented, his sentence trailing off as he examined Duo's other lacerations and wounds. Duo was content to let him manhandle his legs and arms with ease, wrinkling his nose and sniffing dryly. When Kaz asked him to shut his eyes and not open them until he said it was alright, Duo, although hesitant and skeptical, obeyed.

Again there was the trailing of fingertips over his wounds, before a sharp sting, this procedure was repeated several times.

With his eyes closed, the sensation of having a pair of hands roam his body was a scary, yet invigorating thought. Mentally sighing, and with a visible frown to the lips, Duo marveled at his own overactive hormones.

'Fuck, it's like I think about sex every goddamn waking minute.' He thought disgruntled.

"You may open your eyes again." Kaz's voice wafted through his mind and he immediately complied. His cerulean blue eyes snapped open and he stared, questioningly, at Kaz who simply spun on his heel and walked out. "When you are done your shower, someone will show you your sleeping quarters, have a good day, and welcome to Twilight, Duo Maxwell." He murmured as the door snapped shut behind him, leaving Duo to stare at him mystified.

* * *

Kaz shut the door behind him, and began to descend the stairs, before he suddenly swayed.

'What on…?' He thought bewildered as he took a few more steps, before stumbling in his footing and his hand quickly shot out to steady himself against the wall. With a barely audible curse, he glanced up and hissed.

"Drat it. I must have exhausted myself." He muttered as he took another step, before pitching forward altogether.

And sleep claimed him.

* * *

"Kale, maybe you should really get Kaz to look at your wounds." Ren murmured worriedly as he watched the large man apply some bruise balm to darkened marks on an otherwise flawless skin. The brunette shook his head with a lopsided grin.

"Nah, they're not serious, and besides. Kaz has enough to worry about, what with Jinx, Millie, Monique and that Duo all injured. You know, I honestly think we should get another healer in the house, there is just too much for Kaz to do all the time." Kale commented with a heavy sigh. Ren squirmed uncomfortably from where he sat. He occupied a wooden chair, and stared straight across and Kale's half naked form, the giant of a man sat on his bed, his shirt tossed beside him as he massaged bruised muscles.

"Mphf." Ren groaned out as he slumped in the chair. Kale shot him an amused glance at the sound and chuckled.

"Mphf? Is that even a word?"

"No, and right now I don't care." The teen got out disgruntled, his mind swirling with unsaid thoughts.

Giving him a surprised glance, Kale stood and walked over, and resting a hand on a slim shoulder, he gave the boy a worried stare.

"Are you okay?" He asked softly. Ren frowned and shut his eyes.

"Y-no. No, I'm not fine at all." He grumbled, his answer shifting in mid word. "My life sucks, I don't understand myself anymore, and I… I just feel so damn frustrated and I don't know why!" He snarled, a blush painting his cheeks. Kale's eyes widened a bit as he blinked at Ren and tilted his head to the side a bit.

"Don't understand what?" He asked mildly. Cracking one eye open, Ren gave him a look of pained confusion, before sighing, and straightening his posture in the chair.

"… my feelings, my body… everything!" He got out as he hid his face in his hands.

"Your feelings?" Kale repeated surprised. "What do you mean?" Ren, finally on a breaking point, threw up his hands and shot to his feet, startling the male.

"**_THESE_** feelings dammit all!" He snapped and before Kale could even react, a pair of rough lips met his own, his eyes widened, and before the sensation of a chaste kiss could settle into his mind, Ren had already flung open his door and bolted down the hallway out of sight, his cheeks were obviously red, and Kale could smell a bare scent of salinity in the air.

Tears. And lust.

Fuck, it seemed their little dragon had hit his first heat.

"Ren!" Kale bellowed as he swung open the door again and burst into the hallway after the young male.

* * *

Gone. All of them.

He couldn't believe it, he couldn't bloody fucking believe it.

Again, he roamed his hands over his arms, his legs and his chest again. And again they produced the same results, they were all gone.

Where the hell were his cuts? His bruises, his injuries? Why weren't there even scabs!

Duo panicked, his sanity was going, that was the only explanation.

He was fucking losing it.

Snapping off the shower tap, he flung open the curtains, and with little thought yanked a towel around his waist.

He was sick of this.

First the damn disappearing space in the wall.

Then his fucking amnesia.

Followed by the freaky music.

Let's not forget the candyland-on-crack hallucination of a memory recall followed by a close call because of a damned shadow!

Those two guys having a little love-bite in the hallway, and now this.

Vanishing of the damn wounds.

He wanted answers, and he wanted them now. Stepping over his tattered clothes, he flung open the door, only to be assailed by a mountain's worth of senses, his eyes dilated as his lungs suddenly constricted.

"Wha…?" He managed out as numerous visions assailed him.

**A dark room, much of it was destroyed, the wallpaper had been torn and blood littered the floors and had been sprayed erotically on the walls.**

"…**bring her back… GIVE HER BACK TO ME!" A broken figure lay on the floor, fists clenched, blood pooling around them.**

_A desolate village, nothing but smoking buildings and crumbling walls. _

"_You… why did you… make me… do this?" A voice whispered softly, tears streaming down soot streaked cheeks._

**A bright room, an altar lay at the top of a raised platform, a lone figure was held by two more, and a third held a sword above the helpless one.**

"**I have no regrets, presented with the same situation, I would do it again, you call me a betrayer of the light? It is _you_ who have betrayed it! Spineless cowards!"**

"Hey genius! Wake up!" A sharp crack shot through the air and broke his reverie. Stumbling back, Duo held a hand to his suddenly stinging cheek and gaped in open surprise at the one who had struck him.

"W-what the hell!" He snapped angrily.

"Welcome back to land of the reality, next time you decide to check out people's history, don't. Have some respect for privacy for fuck's sake." Ehry snapped at him angrily. Duo glared at her, feeling an impressive force of rage build in his body.

"What the hell are you talking about?" He snarled. "I don't get you people, all of you are fucked over, and this house is royally screwed!" He bellowed angrily, the tension of the day's events finally taking their toll on him, all the stress of discovering himself, the strange events and something similar to culture-shock had finally taken it's expensive cost and exploded into a fury of sharp words that would undoubtedly burst into fists quickly. For a moment, Ehry retained her furious expression, before it finally shifted over to honest confusement.

"You mean you didn't do it on purpose?"

"Do **what** on purpose you fuckwit!" For a moment Ehry still gazed at him surprised, before suddenly taking on a sheepish blush and a properly ashamed expression.

"Oh… oh… uhm, sorry uh- Duo." She mumbled feebly.

"A little _late_ for that isn't it?" Duo snapped at her, pointing at his now bruising cheek. The girl had one hell of a bitch slap it seemed.

"I said sorry! What the hell else do you want me to do?" Ehry demanded, her shyness forgotten, pushed aside by the flush of blood to her cheeks and her need to rise to the challenge.

"Why not explain to me what the hell is going here! That's a damn good start!" Ehry bit her lower lip and sucking in a large breath through clenched teeth, was probably going to unleash the fury of a thousand cuss words in one breath, if a voice hadn't beaten her to the punch.

"Stupid dumbass… can kiss my… fuckwit… with a… libido… brains… friggin… MONKEY!" The sentence cut in and out causing quite an interesting string of words, and for a moment, Ehry and Duo stopped bickering, their anger temporarily forgotten as a figure dressed in pure black descended the steps, tossing a hastily braided length of hair over his shoulder. Refusing to even acknowledge their presence, Akito stormed past them, his eyes glinting furiously as he began to head for the next flight of stairs, when a sudden slam echoed down the hallway, giving Ehry and Duo and start.

"REN!" A voice bellowed just as a figure shot out from the hallway, his form a blur of speed.

"What the-?" Duo gasped as Ehry suddenly shot forward.

"Ren!" She called out worriedly as she moved forward. The youth however, paid neither calls any heed as he simply ran blindly, and right into Akito. Duo vaguely caught Ren's look of utter surprise as his eyes snapped open when he hit Akito, sending both of them flying over the banister stairwell. Akito's curse was loud and audible as his angered glare was evident at the young boy who had knocked them both over.

A two story fall.

"SHIT!" Duo yelped as he dashed over towards the banister and nearly flung himself over it as he peered over the edge, expecting to see two sprawled forms on the floor.

Instead he was met with a sudden rush of wind as he was suddenly shoved onto his ass. Coughing at the pressure, he glanced up, his eyes watering with pain as he blinked rapidly to digest the scene before him.

"You fucking brat! If you're going to go into a blind-rage, do it without involving me!" Akito snapped as he tightened his arms around Ren's frail form, a heavy flush covered the boy's cheeks as he gaped wide eyed at the ground below. But this caught Duo's attention for only a fraction of a second.

It was the wings that got his full, undivided attention.

Two large bat-shaped wings sprouted from Akito's back, both black as midnight and stretching a wingspan of a meter and a half each. Behind him though he vaguely heard Ehry groan and mumbled something along the lines of;

"Cat's out of the bag now…" Touching down onto the ground, Aki impatiently shoved Ren away and glared at him. Landing with a painful thud, Ren gaped up at Aki, before glancing away, embarrassed and humiliated, Duo could only assume.

"Just because you've hit your first heat doesn't give you an excuse to become king. Get over it, find some human to fuck and be done with it." Aki snarled viciously, his crimson orbs glinting dangerously before he started down the steps.

"What the hell is all this noise?" A voice asked mildly as Mercutio opened his door and poked his head out. Only to be nearly shoved back as Kale ran past him. "Whoa! Hey!" The male cried out offended and drew his door open a little further so that he could join the growing meeting.

"Ren! Are you okay?" Kale immediately asked upon spotting the boy on the floor. Kneeling down next to him, he glanced him over, eyes drinking in his appearance, before finally assuring himself that the younger one wasn't injured.

For a moment, Ren didn't say anything, simply stared at the floor, before he suddenly drew his knees into his chest and hunched over into something resembling a fetal position.

"I hate this… I'm weak… pathetic… and I don't understand myself…" Ren mumbled as tears began to leak from his eyes and trickle down his pale cheeks. A soft hiccup escaped his mouth and he buried his face into his arms and began to cry silently.

"Ren…" Ehry got out looking forlorn. "It'll be okay, I know it's weird, and scary and all that… but it'll get better, I've gone through it, so has Kale and Lilo, we're all fine now, it'll be okay!" Ehry said vainly in hopes of comforting him.

Ren continued to sob helplessly, before Kale finally sighed and scooped him up into his arms.

"Kale?" Merc muttered beneath his breath as he observed this turn of events. "It won't do him any good to finish it out of pity… a kid that young and impressionable… he's going to think things of it." The tall male warned. Kale gave him a side glance, and smiled sadly.

"I know. The worse thing is though, is that he'd have it right to think things of it." The man murmured gently. For a moment, neither Duo, Merc or Ehry said anything, before Merc finally chuckled and nodded.

"Well then, I wish you both luck." He said and stepped aside. Kale smiled at him, before stepping past the brunette and started for his own room, leaving Duo completely mystified as to what had just happened.

Ehry finally broke the silence by running a hand through her hair and after sticking her cap back onto her head, glanced at Duo.

"So… I guess you want some answers huh?" She asked a little sheepishly, shooting her an incredulous glare, Duo got to his feet and rolled his eyes. She laughed nervously.

"Uhm, right. Stupid question."

"Oh great. Just fucking great. Merc! Get your ass down here!" Aki's voice suddenly wafted up from beneath the banister, causing Mercutio to jump. "Kaz went and got himself totaled by overworking himself again. You deal with this, I'm too sick of this shit." The voice continued angrily. Merc sighed and rolled his eyes.

"If you'll pardon me." He muttered and started down the steps. "Have fun explaining Ehry!" Merc suddenly called back to her and gave an evil cackle before vanishing from sight. Ehry glared at his back and clenched her fist.

"Stupid carrot eating veggie head…"

* * *

Quietly shutting the door behind himself, Kale set Ren onto his bed and sighed heavily as the boy immediately rolled to face the wall, his face a mask of pure red and embarrassment.

"Ren…"

"…don't wanna hear it…" Kale cocked an eyebrow at that sentence and blinked.

"What?"

"I don't wanna hear it… you're gonna say I'm too young… or that it isn't right… I don't give a fuck. I don't wanna hear it." Ren mumbled and buried his face even deeper into the cover, which turned out to be a grave mistake. Inhaling deeply, the scent of Kale filled his nose and he felt his gut lurch, and the pain in his lower region intensified. Slipping his eyes shut he moaned and curled even tighter.

'Oh god…' Kale's eyes softened at the moan and he sighed again, running a hand raggedly through his raven locks before standing. Hearing the shift in movement, Ren cracked one eye open and peeked over his shoulder to see what Kale was doing, and found to his utter embarrassment that Kale was removing his jeans, revealing a pair of loose navy blue boxers.

"W-what-?" Ren stammered out flushing an even darker red. Kale turned to him, his green eyes suddenly narrowed and holding some predatory sort of gleam in their inner depths.

"Undress."

"**What!**" Ren squeaked and Kale sighed yet again.

"I said undress." Kale repeated. "Or do you want to feel like this forever?" Ren blinked in utter surprise and humiliation as Kale sat at the end of the bed, staring at him intently, making him squirm beneath the piercing gaze.

"How do you know that will happen?" He demanded yanking up a bed sheet on instinct to hide beneath. Kale sighed and averted his gaze to looking outside the window.

"For those whose genes lie within animalistic ancestors, such as myself, Lilo, Ehry, or yourself, when we come of age, our bodies will suddenly spike a chemical reaction, similar to the humans' phase called 'puberty'." Kale explained blandly. "It activates the desire to reproduce within people who possess our sort of genes, and instigates the need to release. If you do not release, this pain will remain until you do so, and most likely because of the build up of reproductive fluids, it can cause a backup and internal ruptures." He finished calmly as he finally looked back at Ren. "This is called 'heat'. Depending on genes, heat can occur anywhere from as often as monthly, to as far stretched as yearly. The chosen mate during heat is mostly instigated on lust, there are times when it is pretensed on love, but rarely as the victim in heat has such a great desire to release, they won't care who it is with. I must say, I am impressed you managed to surpress it to this point, for it to hurt this much you must have been withholding it for about a week or so, am I correct?" When all Ren did was nod dumbly, Kale shook his head.

"S-so… I just… do… you know, and then… it will go away?" Ren whispered quietly. Kale nodded.

"At least for a while, it will eventually return, but by then hopefully you will have found a regular partner who will be willing to take part of the exchange." He commented standing and without further delay, pried the bed sheets away from Ren, before starting to undo his hoodie.

"B-but! Y-you're a-a werewolf! Y-you can't do it w-with a dragon! …can you?" Ren stammered nervously. Kale bit back a sigh and continued to undo the garment while replying in a calm voice.

"Regardless of genes, we both inhabit a human form right now, in this manner we are still able to proceed with intercourse." The werewolf declared as he finally pulled off Ren's hoodie and tossed it to the ground with little ceremony. Pouting Ren squirmed away from Kale's hands and blushed even further.

"You sound like Kaz so much right now." For a moment Kale paused, before he suddenly burst out into laughter. Ren blinked in surprise at the sudden joyous sound, and for a moment, smiled.

It was a thrilling sound, and he loved it's clearness, it seemed so… pure.

Wiping a tear from his eye, Kale, still chuckling, glanced at Ren and grinned.

"Oh god, you're right. I was Kaz there for a minute, that's a scary thought." Ren nodded agreement, feeling a bit of tension ebb out of him.

"Agreed." He murmured quietly and allowed a shy smile to grace his lips.

"Well then, I think we'd better continue, or else…" Kale's sentence trailed off as he shifted closer to Ren and trailed a finger down his lean and pale chest, his finger trailing a soft red mark on the flawless skin. With a start, Ren flinched, his breath hitching in his throat as his lower region gave another painful throb. Feeling a little guilty for taking advantage of the young dragon when he was so vulnerable, Kale compensated himself by leaning forward and placing a gentle kiss on the younger male's lips, before pulling back.

"Will you let me help you?" Ren blinked at him, and for a moment hesitated, before nodding.

"Yes… please help me…" Kale smiled softly and leaned forward, cupping the young dragon's face with his hands, he nodded.

"Then I will." And as he placed his lips against Ren's, he nibbled on the dragon's lower lip before pushing Ren back gently, until his back hit the mattress. Placing his hands on either side of Ren's head, the werewolf supported himself and held the kiss, sweeping his tongue across the other's lips. With a moan, Ren subconsciously opened his lips, and granted Kale access to dive his tongue into the hot cavern.

Trailing his hand down Ren's chest, Kale smiled into the kiss and slipped his hand beneath his companion's waistband.

A sharp bolt of ecstasy shot through Ren and his face broke the kiss as he tilted it towards the ceiling with a gasp, his back arched and he gripped the sheets with white fisted knuckles.

"Kale…" He gasped and the werewolf smiled as he felt the awakenings of his own predatory lust, his eyes suddenly flashed silver, and his canines grew. Treating Ren's shuddering form to a feral grin, he lowered his lips to Ren's body and placed a kiss in the crook where neck and shoulder joined.

"We haven't even begun, my little dragon."

Disclaimer: I own plot and OCs. My god, I am getting so close to lemons here it's not funny anymore. O.O

Well, anyway… I do not own Duo, or Heero, or Wufei or any of the GW cast.

So on so forth…


	6. Kazuki

Author's notes: As this chapter was rushed I don't believe the end is as quite as up to snuff as par usual, but until I get a moment to breath, the ending shall stand and not be re-edited.

_**Chapter 5**_

"Ack! Hey Aki! Hold up!" Merc called out as he bounded down the stairs, ignoring the unconscious Kaz as he hopped over the fallen form and continued to run after the brunette.

"Kiss my ass." Aki snapped and Merc grinned.

"Would love to, but you are going to have slow down if you wish for me to comply." He called out as he slowed down to a walk next to the fuming youth and sighed.

"Merc, do me a favor and run headfirst into the next truck you see." Aki growled as he shut his eyes and continued to stomp towards the front door. Shaking his head, Merc wrapped a lithe arm around Aki's shoulders and leaned against the shorter youth chuckling.

"But that wouldn't really be doing you a favor, would it?"

"Remove your arm before I cut it off."

"Boy someone is testy today." Merc's teasing reply was grating on his nerves.

"For the last time, fuck off."

"I'd rather fuck on you, and preferably not the last ti-"

"**Goddamn it Merc!**" There was a sudden snap of movement as Akito's hand shot out and ripped a decorative mirror from the wall before swinging it at the youth's head.

There was a decisive tinkle of scattering shards and as it dawned on Akito what he had done, his eyes widened with surprise, but not enough for an apology. Blood dripped to the floor as Merc stared at Aki calmly, his hand had swung up almost immediately to block the mirror, and now the side of his hand was a bloody pulp with glass shards embedded into his skin. In the silence that followed, Aki simply stared dumbly at Merc, before glancing away, his eyes falling to half mast and his lips curving into a frown. With another sigh, Merc grabbed the mirror with his other hand and dropped it onto the ground.

"Are you done yet princess?" When Aki snapped his head up at the name and glared at him, Merc simply rolled his eyes.

"You can play hurt victim all you want, but I am so sick of your 'pity me and stay away' act. For fuck's sake, you are not the only one who went through a traumatizing event. You are not the only one who has been wronged by that asshole we call an enemy, and you are far from being the only one who wants revenge." He snapped with a piercing glare. "How many times do I have to say it Aki? You aren't cursed, hell if anyone is cursed it would be all of us." He growled.

For a moment Aki stared at him, looking so badly like he wanted to believe the words that were forming from his lips, before he glanced away.

"You don't understand." He muttered bitterly as he started towards the door again. Quick as a flash, Mercutio's hand shot out and clasped around his wrist.

"_You_ won't **let** me understand!" He finally yelled angrily. "You keep pushing everyone away! **Especially** me! Why the fuck? Does my love mean nothing to you? Was our time together in each other's arms all for shit?" He demanded. Aki stared back at him in shock, before switching his gaze to the floor, before sighing.

'Fucking hell…' He thought disgruntled as he shook Mercutio's grip on his wrist off, and instead took the other hand, much to the surprise of the elf.

"Aki…?" The youth did not reply as he instead shut his eyes and placed his lips against the bloodied hand.

'Winds of lore I beg of thee… lend me your skills for but the barest of moments in my time of need.' He chanted swiftly in his mind, before opening his eyes, and blowing softly on the hand. The chilling sensation sent a thrill of shivers up Merc's spine as he gazed at Aki with some newfound awe.

"Heal." Aki whispered and with a sharp jolt of pain, glass shards fell to the floor as Merc's wound resealed itself. With the laceration healed, Aki straightened sharply and turned on his heel and began marching towards the door. As he opened the door, he glanced back at Merc and his crimson eyes narrowed with distaste.

"There was never love in our relationship. It was only lust." And with that, he stepped into the rainy weather and slammed the door shut.

Silence.

Heaving a sigh Merc glanced at his newly healed hand and looked it over, it was back to normal and he shook his head.

'Say what you want Aki, I can tell when a demon lies. They do it all the time.' He thought frustrated as he bent to pick up the shattered mirror's frame.

"You shouldn't push him like that." A voice commented dully. When the elf looked up, his eyes were met with a pair of amber golden piercing ones and he sighed.

"Lilo, when I need your counsel on love, which I doubt since you're still a virgin-" He commented slyly and smirked at her instant blush. "I'll ask for it, till that time, I must humbly ask you to mind your own fucking business." With a snort, Lilo shrugged and walked back into the living room.

"Whatever." With a shake of his head at her interference, he touched his index finger to the back of the frame and began to trace an imaginary rune on the flat surface. As his finger trailed across the surface, it left a glowing white, slightly tinged blue line in its wake. Marking a circle, he struck three lines in the middle, then finally tapped it in the circle, leaving a dot. Immediately the mirror glowed as the shards floated up from the floor to reform a whole, singular and unmarked piece. When the glowing died, he smiled and replaced the mirror on the wall.

'Despite what you say Aki… I'm going to prove my love for you.' He thought, his ice blue eyes suddenly flashing red. 'One way or another, we will end up with each other, for all eternity.'

* * *

_Cold… why was it so bloody cold? _

Blinking open spectrally pale eyes, he lifted his weary head just in time to see a peculiar fellow walk past the oddly open door, ah, that was why it was cold. Accursed draft. Wait--the door was never open freely to the public unless… bloody hell. Irritated demon on the loose.

Pulling a weary sigh he sat up fully and smirked as the peculiar male was followed by a rather hissy looking companion he recognized easily.

Shaking his head he decided to take a peek at the new turn of events that had occurred in his sleep before going in search of his beloved master. Creeping out the door, he managed just in time to see the newcomer and Ehry tromp into… the room of Araya. He stiffened.

_What in all the nine hells?_ He muttered vaguely to himself. That room was forbidden to everyone but Kale, it was… sacred, in a manner. His footsteps barely touching the wooden floorboards, he quietly made his way towards the partially cracked open door and leaned forward to listen to the quickly heating up conversation.

* * *

Flopping down onto the couch with a disgruntled sigh, she motioned for Duo to do the same, who chose instead to stand. Folding his arms in a rather peevish fashion, he instead treated her to one of his best 'death glares', hand learned from the son-of-a-bitch master himself. Returning what she thought was an equally annoyed glance, Ehry motioned to the room, and finally spoke.

"This, will be your room." She said a bit tonelessly, obviously not happy with the orders she had been given. "Feel honored, if we had any other room, you wouldn't be aloud to step foot into this place. As it is, I think you should stay away from Kale when he learns of this." Was a mild declaration and Duo raised an eyebrow.

"And… why is that?" He proclaimed as he observed his new living quarters. It wasn't a particularly special room, walls made of wooden pillars connected to varnished wooden floorboards. The bed bore tan bed-sheets, which somehow managed to not look bad-ass ugly and actually complimented the surroundings. There was a darkened atmosphere to the room… almost a sort of, underlying current of emotions. Shivering at the tickling sensation in his skin, he switched his gaze over to the sliding glass doors which led to a balcony overlooking a forest.

…

Wait-

"What forest is that?" Duo demanded suddenly heading towards the second entrance into the room and Ehry started.

'What the-?' Was her vague thought as she too glanced at the window. "You… can see a forest?" She whispered as she too gazed through the balcony window… and saw nothing but a wasteland of barren plains with the waste of man scattered erratically over the fields.

"Yes, which forest is that?" Duo repeated. Ehry stared at him, her gaze puzzled and he shivered when he glanced back at her, it was if she were trying to pick him apart, piece by piece with that look, and after several moments of silence, she finally answered.

"The forest of the Elley Vhanr." Was her quiet reply.

"I'm sorry, forest of what?" Duo asked in a puzzled tone, he had never heard of such a forest, and while his amnesia was still completely in effect, it seemed to affect only his memories, surely he would have heard of such an extensive forest in America!

"Elley Vhanr." Ehry repeated as she flopped back onto the bed sheets and inhaled the musty smell, falling into the lingering memories that the faint hint of perfume which still was layered into the sheets presented. "It was a gift to Araya… Kale asked Mercutio to do it for him, for her. Araya was born in those forests, she loved them. It is rumored that in the days far gone, the Vampiric race, those who despised their own kind and themselves for what they were ran to the forests of Elley Vhanr, and lived there, preaching ways against their blood lusting forms. Preached and abhorred it so much, they changed. Keeping their pointed ears, their speed and strength, their heightened senses, they took the name of the forests that protected them. Elvaans. Later it was shortened to elves." She said quietly and closed her eyes tired beyond all belief, bringing back memories of Araya, hurt. She missed her irritable but loving companion.

"… I see." Duo murmured, not really quite understanding, but sensing the pain in her words, despite she seemed to be quoting some myth, there was suffering in her words, and he most of all understood that, in a desperate attempt to change the topic of conversation, he spoke of the first thing that came to his mind.

"So… what is Aki?" He asked tearing his gaze away from the forest and coming over to sit on a chair facing Ehry.

Ehry was silent again, before she sighed and sat up, her cat-like eyes gazing into his and he found them slightly unnerving.

"I have to ask first, are you superstitious?" She demanded.

"Super… what?"

"Superstitious." She repeated, her eyes gazing intently into his. "Do you believe in God above and Satan below, that ghosts linger in your world and that creatures run rampant even today."

"I… yes, to an extent." Duo replied puzzled by her sudden topic of conversation. "What does this have to do with it?"

"Just answer the questions. What extent?"

"Geez, a little bitchy today huh?" He muttered sarcastically. Then he sighed and glanced at his feet as he enlaced his fingers. "I believe in Satan and the Grim Reaper, I believe God exists, but I think he's either given up on us, or is just ignoring us entirely, I don't want to believe that God is real, but unfortunately as a child—I think—I grew up with… people, or something in a church, and I loved them so much I conceded a little to believe in God. But I don't think he does anything." He murmured, quietly. Ehry glanced him over and shook her head.

"What am I doing…" She muttered as she stood and walked over to a dressed, yanking the topmost shelf open, she rifted through the clothes.

"I don't know, what are you doing?" Duo asked, snapping out of his depression and making the comment with a grin.

"Here, Araya was pretty tall and broad shouldered for someone her size, her stuff should fit you fine, you're so tiny… we'll have some proper things for you in the morning, till then you can deal." She said as she shut the top drawer and yanked open the second.

"W-what? Wait! I ain't wearing no women's underwear or shit! I'm not into—I think I'm not, well I _hope_ I'm not—into crossdressing!" Damn amnesia was inconvenient.

"You freak." Ehry muttered as she pulled out a plain white T-shirt and a pair of black sweatpants. Throwing them at Duo who barely caught them in time before they slapped his face, he blinked in surprise at the unisex clothes and glanced back at Ehry. Feeling a little embarrassed, he muttered in retaliation:

"Says the girl who lives in this house." He mumbled and held up the clothes for inspection, they were really big, he noted with irritation, in fact they may have even fit on someone much bigger then him, they would definitely be a little lose for him in length.

"Do you have any… er—_men_'s stuff?" He said pointedly embarrassed. For a moment Ehry seemed at a loss, before she walked towards the door and yanked it open.

And screamed.

Duo scrambled to his feet in panic, his hand going for his gun, only to realize he had left it in the washroom. Craptacular.

There was a scream in reply to Ehry's, but this one belonged to a male. Stumbling backwards and staring up, Ehry held a hand to her chest and breathed in gasps.

"GOD DAMMIT KAZUKI!" She shrieked glaring accusations at the man inside the door frame. And as soon as Duo registered both he and Ehry were out of danger, he glanced at the man in the door frame.

Then he too screamed.

"For god's sake what's with all the fucking screaming!" Came an irate voice as Lilo came bounding up the stairs, her face flushed as she peered into the room. Yet before Ehry could reply, Duo cut across her intake of breath for voice and screamed as high as possible while pointing at the figure in the doorway;

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?" He demanded backing away rapidly.

"What is what?" Lilo demanded, then glanced at the being he pointed to, and blinked. Then she sighed.

"Duo, for chrissake's… it's just Kazuki." She deadpanned.

"Just _who_?" He snapped, eyes still wide as saucers.

"Kazuki." Ehry repeated for him as she straightened onto her wobbly feet and tried to recompose her dignity. "Go back downstairs Lilo, I have this."

"Alright, just keep it down for crying out loud, Jinx needs her rest and Monique has a pounding headache." Lilo muttered as she spun sharply on her heel and marched out the door.

"Oh, she woke up then?"

"About 5 minutes ago."

"Oh, okay, I'll come check on her later." Ehry commented as an afterthought.

"You do that." Lilo replied crisply and vanished from sight down the stairwell.

"I'm afraid I must repeat the new boy's comment, _just_ Kazuki?" The newcomer said daintily, his voice filled with an air of distaste.

"Stuff a sock in it." Ehry muttered. "What were you doing eavesdropping like that?" She demanded as she sat down on the bed again, before glancing at Duo. "And dear lord man, shut your legs, I don't need to see things Merc would like to." Duo flushed crimson and quickly straightened up to look a little more decent.

Well, as decent as a man in a towel can.

"I must confess to some confusion and intrigue, I wasn't aware we were ever going to allow another into this room." Kazuki commented quietly with a sparing glance at Duo from haunted, pale gray eyes.

"Well… circumstances compel us otherwise. Anyway, introduce yourself fool, maybe the boy will stop staring then." She muttered and Kazuki sighed before turning to Duo.

"I am Kazuki, remnant of the Earl, Sir Justinian of England, 1604. Some 20 years ago I met the man who is now my anchor, and as a result of that, my master as well. Akito. He saved my lingering spirit, and renamed me." He explained cautiously, looking for some sign of panic that usually followed such a brief interlude. Duo was stunned as he stared at Kazuki, at least most of the people he had met in this house seemed remotely human and reasonable.

Kazuki was an ethereal being entirely.

"… You're… a ghost?" He finally asked, his words released with difficulty past numb lips. Kazuki bristled at the term and sniffed with haughtiness born to a noble.

"I dislike the term, but yes. I am a spectral spirit, and would beg you to remember to respect the deceased." He said sternly and Duo nodded a bit dumbly.

"Ignore that." Ehry commented with a snort. "Kazuki, for all that he's nice enough, is a stuck up prick and stiffer then the stiffs in a morgue." She teased and snickered at her own joke.

"That," Kazuki began. "was a horrible pun." He said with obvious disapproval.

"You say that only because your dead."

"And I'm very touchy about that, your words cut more cruelly then the sword which killed me." He replied crisply, folding his arms behind his back. Now that Duo was losing his shock, he got a better look at the ghost and blinked. Silken breeches that matched something he had seen in his textbooks when learning about the French Revolution covered his legs, ending in high-heeled shoes that were nothing like today's version, thank god for that. A clean silken shirt and red petticoats with prim white gloves were his choice of attire, his hair, black and without the powdered wigs he had so often seen in pictures of old England, was long and swept back neatly behind his broad and powerful shoulders. Around his belt was an ornamental sword, with gilded gold into the handle and sheath.

Merry ol' England indeed.

"C'mon man, you've had 400 sum years to get over it, you'd think being dead would be fine with you by now!" Ehry exclaimed portraying exasperation, but truly laughing about it on the inside.

"Miss Ehry, as I am sure you have heard this often and again by now, it pains me to tell you the truth, that I absolutely hate you."

"Love ya too sweety, listen, do you think you could fetch Duo some boxers from Merc? I'd ask you to take them from Aki… but I'm not sure he wears any, or that he wouldn't kill me if I took them." She chuckled briefly. "Then I could join you in your ghostly ways."

"You are despicable, and though it is none of my business, Master Akito certainly does wear men's undergarments. It is Mister Mercutio who should be under the scrutinization of the latter. And I suppose I can, if only it will allow me to part with you and your deplorable company."

"You're such a stick in the mud." Ehry snickered, but waved her hand in dismissal, and with another disapproving sniff, Kazuki walked out the door and towards Merc's room.

"… can't he just walk through walls?" Duo asked finally, looking still a little perplexed by the recent events.

"He could, but he just doesn't believe that's decent. Poor guy, must have been such a stiff when he was alive, never mind now that he's dead and has had over a century some to adjust to our new modern attitude. That's just how it is, some people take to it fast, others just don't take to it at all. Hell knows I adapted quickly enough." She mused. "Though you'll find others who didn't. Aki for example still holds a lot of his old attitude, Ren is way meeker then he used to be, and Monique is so much more easy going then when we first met. I suppose Aki and Kazuki are the only ones who really hold onto the old tradition, probably why they get along so well." She muttered, her voice trailing off as she glanced at him pointedly.

When nothing was said for the next few moments, Duo finally returned the offending glare with one of his own.

"What?" He snapped peevishly, feeling a little more then a bit self conscious here in this room wearing only a towel and clutching some clothes to his skinny frame.

He looked so bloody adorable there, standing nearly stark naked. She bit down on a laugh that threatened to escape her lips and shook her head.

"Going to get dressed anytime soon?" She instead replied smartly, her voice edged with that ever so meticulous annoying grate that Merc often congratulated her on. Growling in an extremely surly manner, Duo stomped over, and before she could even asked what was going on, he spun her around and shoved her very rudely out the door and onto her stomach.

Slamming the door behind her, she growled and flopped over onto her backside while blowing a whiff of hair out of her eyes.

"Well he's just a bowl full of cherries isn't he?"

"As I have never had the experience of comparing a bowl of cherries and a human mind together, I'm afraid I can not answer that question Miss Ehry." A dry voice commented briskly to her side and she peered over and smirked.

"Nice choice Kazu." She applauded while actually clapping daintily with her hands from the floor grinning meticulously.

Holding the pair of neon green boxers away from him like they carried the plague, Kazuki gave the mildest sniffs of disdain.

* * *

Lifting the smudged and cracked glass to his lips, he drained the last of the drops and pulled it away. A tongue darted out among the succulent lips to lick away the last drops of the beverage before like a snake, it pulled back into its cavern and the cave closed.

Hiding away in his own little corner, he refused to meet the questing eyes the lingered over his body and instead sat in his own corner, brooding.

He should have gone to a bar… raves were always far too noisy for his tastes. But the last thing he wanted right now was to be able to think. And for that, he needed alcohol to kill his senses, and loud music to eliminate the mind.

Bliss. Absolute bliss.

He sat there like a statue, barely breathing, barely moving, not even thinking, barely better then the dead. It almost felt like he _was_ dead sometimes… for a moment he wondered what his sister would have said to him, if she could see him there, stark drunk and open for the world to strike at him.

She would scold him into an inch of his life, literally, with her sharp tongue and even sharper whip doing the talking for her. He nearly laughed aloud, was this what the mighty general had fallen to?

Once revered among Satan's very own armies, feared by all that walked and breathed, now a tavern drunk and a washed up antihero?

Pathetic, absolutely pathetic.

Then he wondered what Kanone would have said to him. His eyes glazed over as he remembered her soft voice, the press of her gentle lips and how her warmth had melted his icy heart, how her gentle waters had calmed the raging fires of his temper.

_You need to clean yourself up my love… I always did like you angry instead of drunk._ Her words repeated in his mind and he sighed.

Roughly shoving the images of Araya's caring smile and Kanone's tender eyes from his mind, he kicked them out with a firm thought.

They were dead. Dead and it was his fault. He would never hear Araya call him her most beloved scapegoat, never again see Kanone smile.

He had to get out of here before he fell deeper into the recesses of his own pathetic self angst.

Moving to leave the booth seat, he was prevented from such an action when a group of people instigated themselves at his table, a slinky female, exceptionally attractive with startlingly blond hair sat beside him and curled her leg around his own.

Across from Aki sat a redheaded vixen with plump, luscious lips who stole his glass as the last member, a young male with stylishly cut ebony dark hair eyed him hungrily.

"Hey there sexy…" The woman next to him whispered seductively as she leaned in. Raking her teeth over his earlobe, she purred at him.

Akito eyed her like an unamused cat.

"Lin and I were talking…" The second female said in a low murmur as she pulled an ice cube from his cup with her long nailed fingers and pulled it across her chest, revealed through an extremely low neckline shirt.

"And then Dante joined in…" The girl named Lin said shrugging her head in the male's direction who nodded companionably. "We were wondering… if you'd like to join us in a little… _get together_, tonight." She said with a small giggle and placed her hands affectionately on his shoulder as she began to kiss along the edge of his jaw and towards the neck.

"If you know what we mean…" The woman with the ice cube said with a meaningful smirk.

"And if it means anything… I call myself straight, but I wouldn't mind taking a piece of your ass." Dante added roaming his eyes appreciatively over Aki's lithe frame.

For a moment the man said nothing, before sighing and he pushed Lin out of the seat. With a yelp she went sprawling on the hard floors as Aki stepped out of the seat and shook his coat straight.

"I'm not your cheap whore to fuck. Stay away from me." He hissed venomously as his eyes blazed crimson, and with a contemptuous sneer, he spun sharply on his heel and began to walk off.

Behind him, Dante and the second girl stood behind Lin as she got to her feet.

"Plan B?" Lin whispered.

"Plan B." Dante agreed with a feral growl, his eyes growing lustful as he watched Aki walk off.

"Get him." The last girl hissed and smile a poisonous grin as her eyes flashed red.

Aki never felt the danger behind him.

Not until it came straight through his chest as a silver tipped stake.

Howling his rage, he spun around knocking his assailant off their feet and skidding into three tables.

"You could have just come quietly, but now we have to get rough, _demon_!" Dante hissed as he flexed his hands, silver gleamed at the tips of his nails, which looked a lot more like claws at the moment.

Tearing the projectile from his chest, he ignored the nearby humans who began to retreat and instead faced his three attackers, already he felt his power slipping.

"I bet you never thought you'd find three vampires in a rave did you?" Lin taunted as she bared her fangs and hissed.

"And I feel low that I didn't sense you." Aki whispered. "After all, you stink worse then the humans, and _they_ smell like pigs!" He snarled and launched himself forward, his hand bared as his nails shot to a startling length.

"Low demon." Dante taunted as he easily evaded the deadly claws. "Really, _low_." He snapped as his leg shot out and kneed the demon in the gut, with only a twist on Aki's half to avoid a groin shot.

Cursing in a guttural language, Aki shot to his feet and whirled on Dante, but before he could even manage a step, claws buried themselves deep into his shoulders, tearing flesh and muscle.

A howl of anger, rage and pain tore from his throat as he felt the claws dig deeper and stretch wide in his skin.

"That's right… scream demon…" The last vampire whispered sadistically in his ear. By now the commotion had been noticed and all the humans had fled, save for a select few security guards who rapidly approached.

"Hey Mana, what should we do with the humans?" Dante asked brazenly, his voice carrying through the suddenly empty hall.

"Bite 'em!" The female who had her claws buried in Aki's back replied giggling.

"I want to bite the demon first… do you think his blood will taste as good as the human woman's?" Lin asked mournfully, eyeing Aki like a tasty morsel offered up on a silver platter.

Aki froze as her words sank deep into his memory.

"Oh yes, even better I think…" Mana whispered into his ear as Dante walked towards the approaching guards. "That human girl's blood… _very_ tasty, Lord Malachi let us _all_ share her before he killed her. And you know what demon…?" She hissed, ignoring the sudden scream from the direction Dante had left in.

"_Kanone_… she was delicious!" Lin squealed delightedly.

As Dante finished dealing with the human guards, he was in the midst of licking his hands clean, when a wave of animosity washed over him, and he suddenly got a very bad feeling.

* * *

"_In this world… there are many things as humans you fail to comprehend. Angels, demons, sure. But there is so much more, the anilmakos, the soronja, derenmikol, so many beings you couldn't even fathom to imagine in your best dreams or worst nightmares. I'll tell you this now… Aki isn't human. No one, in this house is, not fully anymore, in any case._

"_Aki is a demon. A full fledged, hard core demon. He can drink your blood, rape you, kill you and not even lose a pinch of sleep, a general of Satan's very own precious armies. Monique? What was the first word you thought when you saw her? Too beautiful for this world, right? I'll give you a hint, she has feather white wings and comes from the I-art-holier-than-thou bastard up there. Kale? I'll warn you now, don't ever catch him on a full moon, he'll have you naked and be fucking your brains out before you realize it, and the funny thing is, you will want him._

"_And for a long explanation short, everyone in this house is attuned to an attribute. You have the six general categories, fire, wind, water, earth, light, and dark. For god's sake, to make it easy, it branches off to more specific powers depending on personality. Aki's power is a dark-destruction._

"_Millie has a light-protection ability, while Ren holds all four elements and an ability to kill or heal. The point is… okay, grading it on a scale of one to ten for the average magic user. One the lowest, ten the highest. Ren is a ten in all areas._

"_For Aki, he's a 25 in dark on a normal day. Piss him off and he can pull a 30. That's enough to level New York, and I mean the state, Duo. Each and every person in Twilight has a special attribute attuned to them, a single power they can take the farthest. Jinx is the most powerful of us all. On a normal day when's she's feeling good, she can pull a 30 easy in her exorcism spells. _

"_Me? I'm a seer, I see things coming. _Everything_. I predict all newcomers to this place, and the only way I wouldn't see someone coming is if they were more powerful then me, and here's news for you chickie. I didn't see _you_. All the time, my seer powers are at 40. _All_ the time._"

Finally pausing to take a deep breath, Duo struggled to absorb this information as Ehry struggled to keep her composure.

"It doesn't matter what field, if your power is stronger then a 40, I will not see you coming. Duo… I don't know what the hell you are, but I can assure you. **You are not human**." She said as she got to her feet. "And now I've talked enough. Get some rest Duo, you won't be awake much longer." She said as she headed for the door. Jumping to his feet, Duo snarled.

"Hold it! How do I know you're not bullshitting me? This could all just be some… some… some _sick_ joke some freak thought up!" He stammered, desperate for some loophole, something to tell him that his universe was still right way up, that he was still on the third rock from the sun and still somewhere where the sky was blue and the grass was green.

For a moment, Ehry said nothing, then she glanced at him.

"Name an animal Duo." She ordered him, her eyes blazing defiance. Taken aback, Duo starred at her, before he racked his mind.

Bats, he liked bats. No, too predictable.

Dragon? God that wasn't an animal…

"Crow." Duo finally said. For a moment, Ehry said nothing, and she didn't have to, her body said it for her.

Her hands suddenly darkened in color and turned black, flaring into a mass of feathers, her clothes fell from her shoulders as her legs turned into scaled twigs with clawed ends.

Duo found it impossible to breath as he stared in absolute shock at the newly transformed crow. Stumbling backwards, his legs hit the end of the bed and he fell onto the covers, still completely terrified of this new development.

Not bothering to conceal herself, when Ehry touched onto the floor again, she melded into her human form once more. Picking up her shirt she refused to look at him as she pulled it on.

"I am an anilmakos, you call my specific kind a shape-shifter. Definition wise, I'm there because I shapeshift to animal forms only. Kale is an anilmakos as well, as is Lilo and Ren. I hope you're more a believer now Duo." Ehry finally conceded as she pulled up her jeans tightly around her waist and secured them with a tightly looped belt buckle. Donning her cap and twisting it just so, she proceeded to leave once again.

"W-wait-!"

Sighing, Ehry opened the door and gave one last glance over her shoulder.

"Last time Duo." She warned, her temper nearing the surface.

"Y… you said that only someone more powerful then you… could have… you wouldn't have seen… you know what I mean." Duo gulped. "O-on your scale… w-what… what am I?" He whispered hoarsely, feeling his world crumbling down around him. For a moment Ehry said nothing, then she sighed and ran a hand over her neck.

"Right now? And bear in mind you haven't been trained to your full potential, nor have you been put into a circumstance to raise your power…" She sighed and walked out of the room, and as she shut the door, she called out a single number.

"A fifty-five plus, easily."

Disclaimer: I own the OCs and plot, that's it.


	7. Aphrim

_**Chapter 6**_

_Riiing!_

Silence.

_Riiing!_

Complete and utter silence.

_RIIIIIIIINNNNNGGGG!_

He could _swear_ that damned phone was growing more obnoxious by the second…

Another mind grating ring and at last the answering machine whirred to life, clicking a minute sound as the tape whirled to play.

"**No one is present at the moment to answer your phone call, so please leave a…"**

"Exactly… whose idea was it my dear to have the phone pick up after the fifteenth ring?" Came a light voice rich with sophistication and tinged with the haze of sleep and fatigue over the mandatory message.

"Seemed like a good idea at the time…" A much more uncouth and muddled voice replied as the speaker buried his head further into a pillow, quite literally burying himself into his lover's body with a contented sigh ignoring the speaker on the phone. Which was ironically his own voice.

Both paused for a sparse moment as the machine beeped to hear who was calling them at this ungodly hour, and to learn if it was important. Odds were 10000 to 1 that it was not, and that it was probably a flippant call or a telemarketer.

"Zechs get your damn ass out of bed, or your cock out of Treize, and pick up the damn phone we have a problem!!" A female's irate voice drifted out of the machine and the blond cursed burying his head even deeper into the pillow.

Damn odds.

As an elegant hand drifted over the bedside phone, Treize picked it off the cradle and hit the on switch holding it elegantly to his ear, his hair slightly mussed and his eyes were closed.

"Good morning Miss Noin. How may I be of service?" He asked casually as if commenting on the weather.

"Morning Treize, where's Zechs?"

"A moment." Treize said quietly then glanced over at his lover slipping his eyes open. "Are you coherent love? Or shall I pass it to the third of our _menage a trois_?" He asked smirking.

"The third of your threesome is tired. Piss off." A third voice mumbled from the pile of bodies as a lightly muscled arm raised from the pile and flipped Treize a bird.

The man chuckled lightly.

Sprawled across the better part of the luxurious bed, his arm thrown possessively over Treize and Zechs both, a young male with golden, bronze hair in wild disarray and a thin and lithe body flopped over the covers covered in liquid that was quickly cooling on the skin as he opened his brilliant green eyes just in time to see the phone get tossed at his face and catch it with one hand.

"You're a bastard Treize." He muttered darkly and the man smirked blowing him a sly kiss as he unwove himself from Zechs and sashayed his way towards the kitchen.

It took the man five seconds to realize Noin was speaking to him and ripping his eyes from that firm and tight ass he focused back on the conversation swallowing loudly.

"Sorry, say that again Noin?"

A loud sigh.

"For the last goddamn time I **have** to speak to Zechs!" The male snickered as he lifted his free hand and poked Zechs' rock hard abs with a finger.

"You awake enough to take this phone call lover?" He asked sarcastically.

There was an incoherent grumble and low moan.

"He says no." The male finally told Noin over the phone once more. The female let out an uncharacteristic and unprofessional swear at last and resorted to screaming.

"**APHRIM YOU FUCKER GIVE THE FUCKING PHONE TO ZECHS SO I CAN TELL HIM THEY ARE ALL DEAD."** Aphrim, the holder of the phone, froze.

Zechs tensed immediately as his head shot up, his eyes wide beneath his tousled bangs.

Treize, who had come back into the room with three glasses of water stopped in the doorway, glasses still in his hands.

"Noin?" Zechs' voice was sharp as he snatched the phone from Aphrim's stunned hands and he sat up slightly, balanced on his arms and stomach. "Explain." He demanded.

Noin sighed again, but it was shakier this time.

"That group of assassins we hired… through the professors, you remember that all the doctors would tell us was that they were professionals and capable?" She began shakily. Zechs frowned.

"Yes."

"Well I finally got the dear old professors to spill on why we hadn't received a report of the results yet." Noin continued softly.

"Dead, I take it." Zechs deadpanned as his eyes fell to half mast, his expression deflated and tired.

"Oh yeah, but it's worse."

"How can it possibly get worse?" Zechs demanded sighing.

There was a pregnant pause, and Zechs started as he registered a sound he had never expected from his lifelong partner.

A heartbroken moan.

"… oh gods Zechs… we're fucking murderers…" Noin finally hissed out in a half broken sob. Treize, who had just put the second phone in the room to speaker mode blinked at the defeated cry from his companion, and even Aphrim had to stare.

"Noin, what the hell are you talking about?" Zechs after a momentary pause, his voice confused.

"One of the assassins had a sister, she spilled everything. The assassins are test projects, genetic soldier experiments."

"Experiments?" Aphrim echoed, his face going pale. "What kind of shit are we dealing with?" He demanded but Treize shushed him.

"Noin, explain yourself!" Zechs finally snapped his patience frayed like thin wire.

"They were kids!" She exploded at last, her self composure gone like fog to the wind. "They were fucking 15 year old kids Zechs! We sent them against a fucking monster and he… oh god the battle ground was… oh Jesus Christ forgive us…"

Silence reigned in aftershock like a cloud of death.

* * *

Darkness.

It ruled this realm as the mighty lord it was, all seeing, all knowing, and without fear.

Fear was reserved solely for those who wandered this realm unknown, unseeing, minuscule and tiny by comparison.

They were ants to a mountain and sky.

And that was exactly how Duo felt. There was no warmth to be had, no light to be seen, no feelings to be shared, he was cold inside, completely and wholly dead.

"Those are some good eyes." A soft voice whispered, the sound carrying low and lightly like mist on a breeze. A lone howl on a moonless night.

Duo turned and came upon himself staring back at him with those stunning cerulean blue eyes, and he saw what the speaker meant.

The eyes were cold, blank, it was the look of one who had touched death and came back, not unscathed, but one who had ridden, and been ridden by it, one who had been grasped in its claws and had fought for every inch of freedom, one who had born the full brunt of that terror, and come away triumphant, and fearless.

A murderer, a true destroyer. One who killed not because they desired to, nor for any reason save for the fact alone that you were a threat, and you needed to die.

"… yeah, good eyes." Duo murmured softly in assent and didn't move as the vision that was himself dissolved into another form.

A wolf reappeared before him, with shining golden eyes flecked with emerald bits that shined with the knowledge of the heavens. Its silver fur gleamed in this lightless realm with a brilliance all its own, its claws flexed against the shadow ground, glimmering with danger and fraught with the need to kill, to rend and tear and spill blood.

Its eyes too, were 'good eyes.'

"I am Ara." It said simply, or rather, sang.

Its muzzle opened, but no sound other then a low howl escaped the lips through gleaming canines and razor sharp fangs. Duo gazed at it for a moment, debating what to do before he curiously tilted his head and let a sleepy smile form upon his face.

Vaguely he realized he should probably be freaking out right at this point in time, but rather then argue, he went with it.

"Duo." He replied still giving his slow and relaxed smirk. The wolf bobbed its head once respectfully.

"Welcome, _Arahadeln,_" it began in another graceful tune. "to my realm, here you are Alpha and dominant. I welcome you as Ulfric, Duo." Ara declared solemnly and Duo blinked.

"Ulfric?" He repeated quietly.

"King, king to the pack." Ara sang once more and Duo had to smile at that.

"Well I'll do my best, but I've never been a king before, I don't think I'll be that great." He admitted with a soft chuckle.

"Fear not, _Arahadeln_." Ara whispered and Duo felt it rather then sensed it. Moving shapes in the darkness. They came from all sides, these great predators. The first new wolf to move into the light bore a dark brown fur, gleaming with elegance as it stepped forward and sat on its haunches lightly, his handsome tail slightly swaying from side to side as piercing green eyes gazed upon him, his expression amused.

Next came a light colored predator, his fur was nearly white and he carried a solemn peacefulness in him, as if he were born to watch and protect. His light blue eyes were nearly the color of transparent ice as he lay down next to the brown furred wolf, his position relaxed and content.

The last to come forth was black, nothing but pure ebony black. If not for the whites of his eyes, the gleam of its talons and the shine of its fangs as he snarled a challenge Duo wouldn't have seen him in this dark realm whatsoever.

"For we…" Ara continued solemnly. "are your pack, and we will show you how to become Alpha, how to be dominant, and to judge if you can be Ulfric."

Duo glanced at her from the corner of one eye, the other set on the black wolf as if sensing to take his eye off it would be fatal.

"And if I can't?" He asked quietly.

The reply was unanimous and one.

"We will devour you."

The youth smirked and shrugged.

"Cool."

* * *

Down in the living room with its many couches and pillows, Merc was resting peacefully on the couch dreaming of being trapped on some isolated deserted island with only one person.

"That's… nice…" He moaned as in his dream he lay comfortably on the beach his head in the lap of a beautiful brunette with a nice figure.

"Want some more…?" The brunette whispered seductively as they held a single cherry over Merc's head teasingly.

"Oh yeah…" Merc replied giving a sloppy drooling smile. "Would love some Aki babe."

"Can I kill him… _please_?" Lilo hissed to Monique who gave a patient smile in reply.

"_Mister Mercutio!!_" A voice suddenly bellowed. Lilo jumped, Monique glanced at the stairwell, and Millie who was sitting with Jinx gave an irate glare at the staircase as the ghostly spectral form of Kazuki burst through the lavender curtains.

"Oh yeah… scream it just like that baby…" Merc continued to drool.

Kazuki, instead of treating Merc to a reprimand, stood over him lamenting.

"Mister Mercutio wake up **now**!" He wailed.

"Mmmmmm… right there… oh yeeeaaaahhhh…" Huffing, Kazuki looked like a ruffled peacock and held his hands out threateningly pushing back the cuffs of his elegant 18th century petticoat.

"Very well Mister Mercutio, you leave me no choice. I regret doing this, but here goes!" And unclasping his hands, he thrust them through Mercutio's body, in the area between his legs.

"**HOLY JESUS CHRIST!**" Merc screamed in a soprano voice as his eyes snapped open and he immediately scuttled backwards on the couch squeaking.

"Somehow I don't think Kazuki regretted doing that…" Monique said thoughtfully in that lilting voice of hers.

"ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE ME A FUCKING EUNUCH?" Merc demanded gasping and pale as he glared at Kazuki, twitching.

"Well I _tried_ to wake you up peaceably but you wouldn't have any of it, so I was forced to resort to other methods."

"You grabbed my balls."

"_OTHER METHODS_." Kazuki pressed.

"You grabbed my FUCKING BALLS!"

"Will you just listen?" Kazuki demanded looking exasperated.

"TO A GHOST WHO JUST FRIGGIN' TOOK GROPING BEYOND ALL MEANS OF NORMALACY?" Kazuki exploded.

"MASTER AKITO HAS **LOST CONTROL IN THE HUMAN WORLD!**"

A pause.

In the background on the small little radio set atop the table with the incense, one could hear the faint streams of the classic oldies song, the lyrics playing in soothing melody.

"_Silence is golden…_" And then…

"YOU SHITHEAD WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SO SOONER?" Merc demanded scrambling to his feet and running for the door, limping awkwardly. "Goddamn couldn't you have… shit I don't know, gone for something unimportant like my kidney?!" He bellowed as he made it to the door and pushed past the curtains as Kazuki followed, hovering like a worrisome mother.

"Mercutio, are you going to need some help?" Monique called eloquently.

"NO YOU FREAKY BITCH! THE LAST THING I NEED IS SOME FUCKER ASKING IF YOU AND I WANT TO DO A THREESOME. …AGAIN." Came the sharp reply with the quaint slamming of the front door locking shut. Monique blinked, then shrugged with a casual roll of her shoulders.

"Was just asking." She said to the air.

Millie sighed and shook her head, before turning back on Jinx and rearranged the blankets. Tucking in the edges around the woman's legs as she moved up, she arranged herself to tuck in the blanket around Jinx's shoulders when Millie glanced at Jinx's face and screeched with surprise falling back onto her rear and revealing some interesting body anatomy.

Lying there on the ground, almost completely mummified in blankets, Jinx had opened her eyes and was now staring up at the ceiling with a blank and peaceful expression.

"J-Jinx?" Millie tried quickly as she pulled her skirt down again. "A-are you uhm… okay?" She asked nervously.

"I seriously need a cup of coffee." The priestess deadpanned.

**

* * *

**

"I'm going to die like this, aren't I?" Came a soft voice, quiet with remorse at the thought.

Kale shifted a little sleepily as he held his dragonet a bit closer and cracked open silver glazed eyes.

"What do you mean?" He asked groggily in a breathless voice, spent with the exertion and satisfaction of bringing both himself at his lover to their peaks. Ren raised his hand to the ceiling, palm facing up as he stared at it, his eyes looking lonely, haunted.

"As a human. I'm going to die as a human." He whispered softly, staring still at his own flesh as his eyes gained a haze of terror. "I'm never going to spread my wings and soar through mountain peaks again. I'll never bathe in the icy streams of my home, never again will I hear the cry of my kin. I'll be human forever, until my death." He finished in a quiet whimper, his eyes growing soft with pain. "Until the Dark God removes this curse from me by taking me as one of his own." Kale sat up now, his eyes troubled as he caressed his lover's chin.

"Come now, what brought this on?" He asked softly, his eyes trained upon the dragon's, his fingers moving in comforting strokes.

"I wasn't afraid." Ren said softly, ignoring the question. "Of my future, I could dream of it, think of things I would do. But it was okay, it didn't hurt, because I knew… it would never happen." He said in a despairing voice, the tone rising slightly. "I knew that future would never come, and I did not fear, because it was nothing worth losing."

"…Ren?" Kale asked worriedly.

"But now I'm afraid. I don't want to lose that future. I have a chance now, a _real_ future, something worth living for." Ren suddenly cried out, tears glimmering at the corners of his frustrated eyes. "Kale, I don't want to die!" He sobbed as he suddenly turned to clutch at the werewolf, crying freely. This was a fear he had never felt before. In all his life, the dragonkind had accepted their fates with grace and ease. They knew in their hearts that they were all destined to die, and Ren had felt that with clarity since birth.

What so few dragons experienced however, was the desire to truly live. They existed for eons, in times beyond knowledge and nothing was truly special anymore after a millennia.

Ren, young and new to this world by dragon standards, now felt the fear of a death he could not escape.

For since a fateful encounter with Malachi one night when the dragon had soared past the safety of his circle of mountains, for he had been curious at a scent of this cold, musky being, Ren had been cursed human, lest he wish death.

The vampire had smelt of ice and stone, dead wood and rotting damp, but there was an allure to the scent, something wonderfully exotic and Ren had been drawn to it like a naïve kitten to a petting hand. Malachi had chosen to punish the young dragon's innocence by placing a death mark upon the youth. Now all that was his dragon's soul was spent staving off the life stealing curse, and to turn dragon once more would be to invite death.

But Ren was young, his dragon beast premature and inexperienced, and he was dying. His kin in the mountains had feared his mark of the cold one, and he was banished.

He would never see them again.

But he had accepted it with the grace born to his kind, with an ease that left some feeling distinctly uncomfortable.

The grace was gone. The ease a memory. He didn't want to die.

"What brought this change about?" Kale asked blinking, his surprise was true for he was wolf and he understood all natures and customs. A wolf did not tell the hawk how to hunt, so Kale reasoned it was not his place to question Ren's nature.

This sudden change to his lover's nature was startling, and made the wolf terribly uneasy.

"You." Ren finally hissed as he clung to the werewolf, burying his face in those messy locks. "I have a chance with you." He whispered.

It clicked.

A future with Kale, a possibility where they could be something more than just friends. More than battle scarred companions.

Ren loved Kale, wanted a future with the wolf, a chance for true happiness.

And Ren was dying, that dream slipping away.

Kale stared with renewed loss at the dragonet, his despair growing now in the pit of his stomach with this bleak knowledge. This new guilt that weighed heavily upon his shoulders.

He had meant to ease pain and bring light into the dragon's life. Not add to the misery and break Ren's resolve to meet his death.

He had dealt a blow far worse than could be healed. And there was no escaping this fear now.

Ren was mortal. For now he feared death.

Kale gave a howl of anguish, he had as good as killed his beloved. Again.

* * *

Ara jerked her head up and glanced to her left, her luminescent eyes seeing something in the black void that Duo could neither hear nor sense in any manner.

"Kale." She breathed and was on her feet, loping off into the distance before Duo could even feign the idea to ask what was the matter. He moved to follow, and stopped as the black wolf stood before him.

"Would you abandon your pack for one, Ulfric?" It asked, his voice low, dangerous, familiar.

Duo turned his attention now on the wolf, his eyes wide with confusion.

He knew that voice… where?

"Who… are you?" He asked numbly, staring at the wolf in dumb fascination.

"An apparition of this dream world." The wolf replied coolly, his attitude smug, stern, deliciously comforting. It was like the scent of yourself buried into you pillow, a smell you knew by heart, and something you knew that would never hurt you, because it was you. Duo stared at the wolf, fear mixed with the comfort of the fact he knew this wolf would never hurt him.

"Your name…?" He asked softly.

"… _Itsutsu._" The wolf murmured at last. The name rang a bell, he felt he should know it. Duo figured that wasn't his real name, that there must have been some deeper meaning… but for the life of him he couldn't understand it.

"I am _Mittsu_." The one with piercing green eyes spoke, as if to hastily divert Duo's attention. It worked, and it somewhat didn't.

Again the name ran a bell, he felt as if he should know, understand these names, but everything came up blank.

Damn amnesia!

"_Yottsu_." The last remaining wolf proclaimed with a graceful bob of his head in a polite half bow.

"And it is time for you to awaken, young one." The dark wolf whispered. Upon those words, the world began to spin around him like a vortex of colored water down the toilet.

"Good luck to you, fledgling." A wolf called in final farewell.

Duo wasn't sure which one of them said it, but it did bring back a memory, and a horrible thought.

"_Please…" His mouth formed the words, his lips were swollen with kisses, and his back was arched._

"**Patience fledgling…"**

A memory. He knew who that had been. Who it was. And as he lay in his bed, his sheets tangled in his limbs, his pale eyes staring at the ceiling above him, his mouth uttered a single word with dawning horror.

"Wufei…"

**

* * *

**

Blood, it dripped down his fingers to splatter in the neat little puddle by his feet, seeping into his leather boots and making a delightful squish sound as he stepped, the slither of a body being dragged the only other noise.

His eyes gleamed a venomously bright crimson, his fangs were at the full length, poking from his upper lip as he sneered, showing a mouthful of sharp teeth.

His pale skin was flawless, ivory white as his long and sharp nails were stained with crimson and he laughed. A sharp, evil laugh. There was truly no other word for that bone chilling sound that escaped the creature's throat as it laughed, full, and clearly. The ears were pointed, elven and beautiful, and a runic tattoo bled crimson beneath his left eye.

The cops around the building had their guns out, huddling behind police cars and they all tensed as the creature laughed. It made them want to run.

It made Mercutio want to run.

His eyes were wide, disbelief etched onto his features. He'd seen this demon before, yes, but never like this. Never fully submitted to his dark carnal beast.

"…Kazuki?" He whispered softly, his eyes wide. The ghost shook his head. He too was at a loss.

The demon threw the body to the ground and the cops fell back with a yell. The face was mangled, mutilated beyond all recognition, vaguely Mercutio could make out it had once been female.

Once.

"Good God…" He whispered staring at the demon shaken.

Akito threw back his head and let out a savage cry, half a howl, half laughter, and completely sinister.

And then the carnage began.

"_Fel me den, caroway me gyse_…" Began his deep voice, echoing slightly around them. They were words of the ancient language, but Mercutio, last survivor of a near immortal and wise race understood everything.

In short, it was _Darkness of the 7 moons, evil of the 15 plains, nightmare of the 544 races, chaos of the 99 worlds, malice of the 1 fear!_

The chant was low, quiet and Mercutio knew vaguely he should move, stop this, but he couldn't.

As the day they had first met, he was mesmerized.

Kazuki yelled at him, the police around him fired their guns, useless as the bullets bounced off a shield of violent lightning sparking blue, red, green and purple. Demon's fire.

And still Akito chanted, his hands held out, palms facing down towards the Earth.

Towards Hell.

"Hear me and obey my call!" He called now in plain English, and Mercutio knew why. It was to incite fear among the humans. Humans fear what they don't understand. But they fear what they do know even more.

Ignorance is bliss after all.

"I call upon the sacred number, the blasphemed power. Your blood is in my veins, your spirit carved into my skin, your will engraved into my body!" Akito hissed, his eyes darkened slightly with anticipation. "I call upon the six hundred and sixty-six powers! My will is your purpose! My wish your only thought! Come to me, _flames of fear_!"

Mercutio barely had enough sense left in him to grab a switchblade that he had hidden in his pocket earlier and stab his forearm with it releasing a heady flow of blood.

The liquid hit the ground, pentagram half formed already and finished just in time to shield him as the black nightmarish flames engulfed the area he stood.

Men screamed agony, most died on the spot, it was bloodless, it was clean.

In less than 30 seconds, a stray breeze blew all the remains away, nothing but white ash. The buildings stood unmarked, the cars silent with their lights blaring in their hypnotizing circles. It was eerily silent, as if a graveyard.

And Mercutio stared at Akito throughout it all, his eyes locked on the demon, he even ignored that Kazuki had been caught in the blast and spun through the dimensions.

He would be back, undoubtedly, Akito was his anchor after all, but for now, the two of them were alone.

The demon stared at Mercutio, his eyes narrowing and Merc stared back, unfrightened.

Aki could have anything of him this moment. Anything, here was the divine demon that he had loved at first sight.

The cold predator that had captured his love and lust, the one man who could have his soul, and gladly. Letting the shield marking fade away, Mercutio let the knife fall to the floor as he stepped forward with boneless grace born to his kind. He flowed to Akito, letting his human form slip away into nothingness.

Platinum blond hair that dropped to his knees in loose strings of gold trailed behind him like a cape framing his suddenly ivory pale skin. His blue eyes were electrifying as he stopped in front of the demon, but safety first now children.

He pressed a hand to his wounded arm and squeezed, increasing the amount of blood that dripped to the floor.

"Blood of my blood, flesh of my flesh, come to me now long dead spirits, you who rule the nothingness. Obey my call and taste my power, be mine and perform my will." He chanted quietly, Akito, long gone into his carnal beast reared up as he brought his hand down to perform the sacred spell once more.

The pentagram closed around them, encasing them in a dome of lightly colored purple runes and Mercutio smiled.

"Bad demon, no magic allowed." Mercutio scolded him lightly as he took that final step that put him right in front of Akito, their bodies touching ignoring the demon's growl as his magic fizzled way into nothingness. The elf ran his hands lightly over Akito's bare chest, reveling in the pale ivory skin and enjoying the effect of smearing his victims' blood a little over that well muscled torso. Akito growled as he raised his claws and the elf smirked a different smile. It was fearless, it was manipulative, it was insane.

"Feed from me master, I am your food, your servant, taste my blood and feed your other hunger." Akito froze, his eyes locked on the elf who turned to face the side as one elegant limb reached up to brush away his hair, revealing the pale nape of his neck.

"Give into your lust." Mercutio whispered, his eyes staring at Akito, his grin remained.

Akito bit down with a ferocity that would have killed any normal human, but Mercutio was resolute, and an elf. Two things that kept him alive. Clothes were shredded as Akito took him hard, nothing was used to ease passage of entry but the blood and even that did little to ease the pain. Mercutio smiled through it all, reveling in the pure ecstasy he felt, pain was heaven, pleasure further than that. He urged the demon, made all the right noises and even managed to enjoy it as much as one could.

When it was over and Akito's hunger satiated, the demon collapsed, his raven black hair began to slip back into his human form, which meant shoulder length and jagged rather than long and silken. His skin turned to normal losing it's moonlight glow, his ears disappeared into the round curved shape, his tattoo vanished. Human, and naked in Mercutio's arms who let his golden hair fall about them as he smiled still.

"I told you Aki-babe." He whispered as he stroked Akito's head smearing blood into the jet black locks, the look in his eyes psychotically possessive.

"We'd be together. Forever." He whispered.

By the time Kazuki had managed to track his master and return to the battlefield, he found Mercutio pulling on a shirt that was slightly shredded, his runes having only managed to heal it so much.

Aki himself wore only black pants, but the fact that those had survived the battle (and other things) was a miracle in itself and Kazuki understood that better than any.

"How did you stop him?" The ghost asked quietly, grateful to Merc who carted Aki back to Twilight over his back.

"Changed his hunger from blood to sex." Merc replied with a light shrug, still in his true form. Kazuki frowned.

"That would have required you to get close enough to touch him, how in God's name did you manage that without him blasting you away?" He demanded and Merc chuckled.

"I threw up a magical ward that negates all magic within it." He said with a smile at Kazuki. The ghost scoffed.

"Such power is beyond even Lady Jinx, stop your tomfoolery. Even if you would be able to cast that… why that would make you the most dangerous man in Twilight!" He snapped disbelieving and back to his arrogant flippant self.

Merc smiled as they rounded the corner and saw their home come into view.

"I know." He replied quietly.

* * *

Duo rushed down the stairs only barely managing to get his hair properly tied up when he stopped almost immediately after he had burst through the lavender colored curtains.

Jinx lay next to an unconscious Akito, a cloth in her hands that was stained with a rust color, a washbasin next to her was colored an even darker red, the copper scent of blood filled the room.

Monique was over by Mercutio who was, embarrassingly enough pantsless, and yes, Mercutio did go commando.

The angel tsked and shook her head.

"Your neck is very, very badly ripped, he truly tore into you. I also advise you to engage in no sexual activities for a week at least as well, your anal region is very… how should I say… raped." She said daintily, a flicker of a smile on her lips.

"Aw shut up." Merc called over his shoulder as he sighed. When Monique called for him to bend over, he gave her a sly look and obeyed. Duo refused to watch any further as Monique pulled a towel from another washbasin and moved towards him with it in her hand, he had seen enough with the red and white running down the man's legs.

"What happened?" Duo muttered as he ambled into the room. Millie glanced up at him and shook her head.

"You should still be asleep Duo." She told him as she rose to her feet from her position next to Akito, she had been helping Jinx clean the blood from him. "You're still very weak from the memory recall."

"Actually, I feel kind of good." Duo admitted and glanced at her, noting the surprise on her face.

"…No. Fucking. Way." A voice said stiffly and Duo turned to find Ehry staring at him.

"… Ehry?" Millie called, a mild look of concern flickering on her face as she noticed the shapeshifter staring at Duo with confusion, and possible fear.

"Ehry, what is wrong?" Jinx asked softly in a soothing voice as she too rose to her feet and stared at her friend.

"… his power level." She finally croaked out as she took one step away from Duo who stared.

What had he done to make her so frightened of him?

"What of it?" Jinx asked frowning slightly, concern clearly evident in her eyes.

"… he's raised it. He took a fucking nap and… oh my god…" She whispered her skin paper white as she hit the wall and trembled against it. "He took a nap and almost doubled it."

Silence.

Every eye turned on Duo now, some with hostility, some with wonderment, and many with caution, fear.

"… well. I suppose then it is a good thing he is on our side, yes?" Jinx asked quietly a pleasant and blank smile on her face as she tried to defuse the situation. The tension lessened slightly, but remained.

A low groan brought the attention of many back to Akito who shifted slightly and raised a hand to his head, smearing blood across his forehead.

"What the…?" Akito began, and would have undoubtedly finished with 'hell' had he not noticed where he was. Sitting up immediately he glanced around, tense and legs bent as if preparing to flee.

"Akito, Akito look at me." Jinx immediately cried falling to her knees next to him and jerking his face so that their eyes could meet. He ignored her, his eyes glancing every which way.

An animal that was trying to flee.

"Akito, Akito listen to me! Akito look at me!" Jinx's voice grew, her concern evident as Akito began to struggle. Millie moved forward her crosses at the ready, Monique came over her hands out as if to cast a spell.

"Damn you _Gavira_ don't you dare fall back into that cesspool of darkness!" Jinx finally snapped, showing the first true sign of anger Duo had ever seen from her. But it wasn't the true anger of hate or rage, it was an anger fueled by fear.

But that did the trick, Akito finally stared at her, and it took a moment for Duo to realize it had been the name that had calmed the demon.

Said demon was currently muttering something over and over.

"Kanone… where's… Kanone… KanoneKanoneKanone…" He continued to whisper and Jinx's hold on him tightened.

"I'm losing him." She whispered and everyone in the room tensed.

Suddenly Mercutio moved into range, his long hair trailing behind his naked body as he glided over to Akito and gently pushed Jinx out of the way.

"Akito?" The demon's head jerked slightly as he glanced up to meet the elf's eyes. He instantly calmed, much to the amazement of everyone in the room.

"… Mercutio…" He whispered hoarsely and suddenly his eyes filled with understanding.

"Let's get you a shower, I remember how much you like them." The elf teased as he raised himself and Akito from the floor.

Draping an arm over the elf's shoulders, the demon leaned heavily into him and let his eyes slip to half mast, a content look falling over his visage.

"I'll take care of him Jinx." Merc called grinning with good natured cheer as they both exited via the curtain door. Silence reigned in the after wake of their exit.

"… how the hell did that elf calm him?" Ehry hissed, her attention off Duo for a moment. "Merc has never been able to pull that sort of crap with Aki."

"Who knows, perhaps they were able to bond over tonight." Monique offered with a careless shrug that still seemed sexual in some manner. Jinx however was silent, her eyes troubled and Millie and Duo both noticed.

"What was that about?" Duo demanded suddenly, his voice quiet and questioning, he didn't quite want to disturb the atmosphere yet.

"He had a panic moment, one where his amnesia might have kicked in for a moment." Millie explained softly as she sighed.

When Duo stiffened, she glanced at him, then smiled, understanding.

"Yep. Out of all of us, his situation was the closest to yours Duo." She said quietly. "Akito suffered amnesia as well, it took us three full months to recall all of his memories. Then a full two years to keep him from trying to kill himself." She said quietly, her voice toneless.

Duo swallowed roughly.

Getting his memories back suddenly wasn't a good thing. But of course, this thought was interrupted by a call from Mercutio.

"Oh jeez… will someone _please_ do something about Kaz? He's still on the goddamn stairs!"

* * *

A good 10 minutes later, both Aki and Merc were situated in Akito's personal shower room. Kazuki had left to go find Lilo who was on vampire patrol at the time and possibly to give them some personal time as well, something both intended to take full use of.

With Merc's help, Aki fell under the hot water spouting from the shower head and sighed gratefully, the hot water easing the tension from his shoulders. For a moment he stayed like that, letting the water soak his knotted muscles, before he glanced at the doorway to his bathroom.

The shower stall door had been left open, perhaps that wasn't too great an idea since water was leaking onto the floor, but neither occupant cared at the moment.

Merc currently stood stiffly against the door frame, arms crossed with a look of obvious lust on his face. But something else as well.

Aki stiffened as he realized it was adoration.

For a moment he paused, before he glanced to the side, it was his trademark move when he was about to do something he was uncertain of, and was very embarrassed to do.

"… are you going to come in or not?" He muttered. Merc gave a startled jerk as his gaze shot to Aki's face, his eyes disbelieving. He debated fiercely, before he sighed and shook his head.

"Nah, if I do… well, we know what will happen." He said impishly. Aki smirked, that much was obvious considering Merc was still naked and the evidence of his arousal was fairly damned obvious.

"And?" He asked raising an eyebrow. Merc stared again.

"… I can't bottom tonight. It'll hurt like a bitch and I'm not up for kinky tonight." He said quietly, carefully.

"Again, and?" Aki asked dully. Merc stared a little more. Then he smiled and stepped forward.

Within seconds Aki was pressed against the tiled wall of the shower stall with warm water beating down on them both as Merc pressed the height advantage as he towered over Aki pushing their lips together and grinding hips.

Hands glided over skin trailing water and soap. This time Merc was the one who caused the pain, but it was considerably less, eased by water and lather.

When the water had gone cold, and both were satisfied, they fell, wet and clean onto Aki's bed soaking the sheets slightly.

And as Merc held Aki, soft kisses were shared, gazes of hidden secrets and understanding passed, and the low musky scent of sex filled the room as Merc's need awoke once more.

And at last, long into the morning, Merc rested his head on the pillow, smiling as Aki rested his own upon Merc's chest, they curled about each other, blankets discarded with only each other for warmth.

"… Mercutio." Akito suddenly said solemnly and the elf blinked tired and satisfied eyes.

"Mmm?"

"… thank you."

"If saving your ass from yourself is all it takes to get me a night like this, hell Aki you're welcome and I'll do it again." Aki gave him a slightly bitter smile as he glanced up.

"As I said. All lust, no love." Merc stared at that bitter smile, and smirked back as he leaned down to press a kiss to Akito's forehead, but gave no answer.

Minutes later when Akito had fallen asleep, Merc rested his head against the pillow and gazed at the stars outside the window.

"Of course, Aki-babe." He whispered. "No love at all." He declared, it seemed more like a remark to convince himself than anything else.

Even he could tell.

* * *

Lilo traversed the streets tiredly. Almost dawn… then she could head home and call it a night.

Day.

…morning.

Whatever.

She yawned and quickly stopped at a gas station, getting a cheap cup of coffee and gulped the disgusting shit down as quick as she could.

Gas station coffee was good for one thing, and that was caffeine. Certainly not taste, and not much else either.

Easing back into the cold morning streets, she sighed and pulled her jacket more tightly around her shoulders, fire foxes were not attuned to such cold weather.

She was patrolling a street, 15 minutes from dawn when she smelt it.

Ice and cold, tinged with rusty copper and that damned exotic smell that was slightly intoxicating.

Vampire.

He was in front of her before she realized it, her hand only halfway to her weapon, a sharp and silver crafted dagger.

He stared at her, his crimson eyes dull as he leaned in slightly.

He was smelling her, she realized.

"… you smell of the human. Where is he?" The Vampire asked quietly, his voice emotionless.

Lilo cringed, this one had been taken against his will, it showed in the deadness of his eyes. Only the forced became slaves, mind broken. But sympathy would get her killed. Slave or not, he still had orders, and he would follow them.

"Tell me where your master is and I'll tell you after I kill him." Lilo offered smiling a cheery grin that was just a tad sadistic.

The Vampire stared at her, then gave a shrug of his shoulders and lashed out.

The Kitsune was flying through the air before she realized it hitting the concrete fence wall of a parking lot.

He was fast.

Too damn fast for a normal vampire. She glanced up and her eyes widened slightly as she moved her head just in time to avoid a blow that would have crushed her skull.

She lashed out with her heeled foot, the bottom of the boot catching him straight in the jewels and sent him skidding backwards as his eyes widened with pain and he bent double cursing.

Lilo grinned as she jumped to her feet. Mind broken or not, no guy could listen to orders after being canned with her babies.

Goddamn she loved her boots.

Heaving a breath to abate the pain a little, the Vampire straightened slightly, his gaze murderous. Lilo surmised he must have been a sharp kid when alive, good eyes, sharp temper, intelligence was woven about him, damn they could have been friends if Malachi hadn't destroyed him first.

Another tally on the long list to kill him for.

"Run kid." Lilo said quietly, surprising herself. "The sun's coming in 10 minutes, you won't make it soon."

"… can't. Must capture the human." The Vampire said quietly and Lilo's eyes narrowed, her kindness only lasted so long.

"Don't you get it idiot? The sun. Bad for you. You run, okay?" She ran by him speaking slowly.

He didn't budge.

"… he'll kill them." He whispered, more to himself than anyone else. Lilo's eyes widened.

Her surprise left her open and he took it, his hand was coiled about her throat and tightening in a deadly grip. The sun was a long way off, he might die right after, but she would be the first to go, even her boots slamming into his gut did nothing to deter him, that was how far he had lifted her off the ground.

And suddenly he dropped her as a pained grunt escaped his lips.

Landing on the cold pavement coughing, Lilo glanced up, wide eyed as the Vampire turned to her, his eyes a pale gray rather than crimson.

"Run quickly Miss Lilo, he is too strong and I won't be able to hold possession for much longer." Came the spectral voice of…

"Kazuki?" Lilo whispered but was already climbing to her feet. "Thanks, I owe you." And she ran for it, the kid was no normal Vampire, it didn't take a genius to figure that out. Kazuki struggled to keep the boy within his cage, but it was breaking, the boy was too strong.

And then something connected.

Something that should have never merged.

The thread that was the Vampire touched the thread that was Kazuki, two dead spirits brushed each other, and they were suddenly merged, both seeing into the past of the other.

"_Damn you! Damn you to hell you bloody devil!" Justinian screamed clutching the fallen form of a bloodied knight to him as he knelt on the ground, fires raging around them as men screamed. A castle burned in the distance._

_The figure towered over him, and smiled, the crimson eyes, edged silver amused._

"_Been there, done that." And his sword pierced Justin's flesh._

Kazuki's eyes widened as he was assailed with knowledge, memories, but worst of all, a name.

_It was a lovely sandwich, his blonde beauty in the middle, his green eyed love on the bottom, him on top._

_The Arab cried in a lovely scream of pleasure as he came, his lovers came with him._

_And as they rested on the sheets, sweaty, tired, and content, he wrapped his arms around the two of them._

_Them, they were his, his lovers, his beloveds, his joy._

_And they held him back, the brunette touched his hand and enlaced their fingers, a smile on his normally stoic face. The blond giggled lightly as he snuggled against them both, curving his body against theirs'._

"_I love you, Trowa, Heero." Quatre whispered._

**

* * *

**

And somewhere, in the dark caverns below the city streets, Malachi had settled onto a large bed covered in satin white sheets, he had been about to fall to sleep when he was startled to alertness.

Something had broken.

And the sun rose.

Malachi fell limp on his bed, the life gone from his body, as it was with every sunrise, and as it was with every vampire.

* * *

Lilo came back, certain she was safe, the Vampire was either gone, or dead.

She came into sight and found Kazuki floating there, he looked paler than normal and she blinked.

The ghost had been forced from the host at the time of sunrise, but not because of death.

His was legend, his was lore, his was … terror.

A creature of the night which thrived in the sun, a god of both worlds.

"Ho…ly… sh…it." Lilo got out disjointed as she stared.

The Vampire stood there, bathed in pure sunlight and looking more alive than any other cold one Lilo had ever met. He had not burst into flames, he had not fallen to the ground soulless, he had done none of these things. No, instead his eyes were no longer crimson, they were a gorgeous prussian blue, and his gaze was intense, alert, but underlined with horror.

Kazuki took a sharp swallow, his eyes frightened as he backed away.

"Heero Yuy." He said softly and Lilo glanced at him. "His name is Heero Yuy. He's a goddamn Day Walker." Kazuki managed out, swearing at last.

It was a bad day when Kazuki started swearing.

And Lilo knew why, a Day Walker could kill them all. No wonder he had easily kicked her ass.

Oh yeah, very bad day…

**Disclaimer:** Long chapter? Why yes… love to my friends who bore with me through a terrible writer's block.  
I've got like… 7 different versions of this chapter, I think I'll post some of them, you may get a laugh of how many times I have Duo waking up. O.o


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